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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24076510">You Give Me Anxiety: Creepypasta x M!Reader</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/McAntiLoughlin/pseuds/McAntiLoughlin'>McAntiLoughlin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Creepypasta - Fandom, Marble Hornets</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Amnesia, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Body Horror, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Dark, Dealing With Guilt, Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, F/F, Family Dynamics, Family of Killers, Gay Characters, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Suicide, It's Creepypasta, Lesbian Characters, M/M, Manipulation, Mythological Beasts/Spirits, Mythology - Freeform, Past Lives, Remembering Past Lives, Spirits, Temporary Character Death, What else can you expect?, dealing with regret</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 20:41:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>22,991</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24076510</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/McAntiLoughlin/pseuds/McAntiLoughlin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>~Originally posted on Quotev under Drowning In Regret~</p><p>There was a body in the woods that day. You know it was there. You walked up to it and found it and you threw up upon doing so. You could still hear the buzzing, the ringing in your ears.</p><p>But it vanished. How could it have vanished like that?</p><p>The organs had been everywhere - the body had been everywhere, following you like a virus. But, the police are combing the woods now, and you still can't see the body laying there in the dirt and leaves because its' been following you for a week now. Just like the people in the masks and the faceless man.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eyeless Jack/Jeffrey Woods | Jeff the Killer, Family dynamics - Relationship, Hoody (Creepypasta)/Reader, Jane the killer/Clockwork</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Season 1 - Episode 1: Body in the Woods</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peOPK_DT1WQ&amp;list=PLgpAae2OpHqBP7QyCFO7bOdZ3vMpExqWh&amp;index=2&amp;t=0s  &lt;- This is a playlist for each chapter's song, this posting of the story will (possibly) be a bit behind normal updates.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When you wake up, it's to sunshine forcing its way inside through your window; bright and unwanted.</p><p>You groan, rolling over to face away from it. You can hear birds chirping as they too, wake up for the day, and the buzzing of your phones' alarm from under one of your many pillows. Your hand clambers around for it, finally grabbing onto the loudly buzzing object and turning it on only to be blinded by your lock screen; a bright picture you had taken on one of your many walks in the woods you used to take years ago now of you and your parents. Back before everything had come to the surface, and your parents began to focus more on themselves than on you; their only child who still needed them.</p><p>You blinked rapidly, hissing and trying to look and see what time it was.</p><p>Six o'clock was the perfect time to wake up if you wanted to be on time and not have to rush to get ready for school. However, lately you were the type of person to oversleep and not care about being late anymore. </p><p>Depression and anxiety could change a person a lot it seemed.</p><p>You forced yourself up, scratching your scalp vigorously like you did every morning, and drawing your hands back down to see all the grease piled up underneath your jagged, barely-cared-for nails. The plush rug at the side of your bed met with your feet as you turned to stand, and you stretched as high as you could, cracking your sore joints before meandering over to get clean clothes out for the day; a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt, and your famous leather jacket you never went anywhere without. </p><p>The hot shower was<em> greatly</em> appreciated after a weekend of laying in bed, bingeing on some Gotham and barely eating due to the major case of anxiety you had gone through on-and-off throughout the past forty-eight hours alone in the house. Though, you found it ironic you still got anxious being alone despite always being that way. </p><p>You scrubbed all the grime off  of you, washing twice and brushing your teeth while you waited to dry wrapped in your towel. You got dressed, now padding around on the wooden flooring in your mismatched socks down the hall and back into your bedroom. You sat down on your bed once again, stuffing your phone into your pocket and shoving your feet into your boots. </p><p>The sunlight streaming into your room had now changed from the dull grey of early morning, to a light pink and orange, accented by black shadows from the trees off in the woods just beyond your window that were tall enough to block the sun this early in the morning. </p><p>A few, wispy clouds painted the sky as you make your way outside, heading off down the practically empty street towards the only school in the small town you had grown up in all your life. </p><p>You wandered down the road, scrolling through social media on your phone just for something to do. Music played in your headphones, one of the latest Post Malone songs that had just been released just a few hours ago on YouTube. </p><p>While walking past the woods however, something caught your attention out of the corner of your eye - some kind of quick movement that was out of the ordinary seeing as the wildlife stayed away from even the back-roads of the town; a flash of something dark ducking back down behind a tree, just out of sight.</p><p>You stopped in your tracks, pulling out one of your headphones and taking a curious step closer. Your eyes narrowed as you did so, caution and a bit of anger worming its way up into you. It didn't make any sense and that made you upset, made you angry. You didn't like things that were acting strange, especially when you were in the vicinity. Too many terrible pranks had been played on you by your peers for you to <em>not</em> be annoyed and angry at things such as this.</p><p>You entered the tree line slowly, looking around in the shadows of early morning.</p><p>"If you think you're going to scare me, I already saw you!" You shouted just loud enough to be heard from a little ways away. "You've overplayed this kind of prank guys. I'm not stupid and I'm not blind to your little tricks. If you really wanted to scare people, maybe try <em>not</em> getting spotted."</p><p>You continued to slowly and cautiously move forward deeper into the woods, being careful not to step on anything to give you away. A breeze blew through the trees, brushing your face and bringing the scent of something putrid to your nose. You gagged, bringing your arm up to your nose to block it. You looked up at the sky between the trees briefly and turned around a large bush of underbrush. </p><p>There, on the leaf ridden ground was a rotting body.</p><p>Buzzards flapped around, pecking at the maggot filled muscles left exposed from deep gashes. The buzz emanating from all the flies drowned your music out and a ringing filled your ears. The stomach was gouged open and organs were all around the area; some even hanging from the branches up above. The head, blonde hair hanging low and limp in the cold air, was stabbed onto a broken branch at eye level, the mouth cut open to expose fingers shoved in where the teeth should be.</p><p>You stood there, staring numbly as acid and bile forced itself up your throat. You bent over, forcing what little food that was in your stomach out. The two scents combined, gagging you further as you struggled to breath through it. </p><p>It was awful. </p><p>The whole scene was absolutely terrible. </p><p>Horrific, only something a mental patient could think up to create.</p><p>You stumbled back once you were done, wiping your mouth and kicking dirt and leaves over your own mess.</p><p>"God damn, Jessica, baby I gotta tell ya'. That new diet of yours is working wonders on your body." You laughed, bent over your knees as you stared at the body in fear and astonishment. </p><p>What else could you do but joke as your mind tried to comprehend what you had just stumbled upon not even twenty feet away from the side-road? You were already known as the crazy kid at your school; no doubt to the rest of the town too by default. That's why your mom stayed away from home so much. After your dad left she wanted nothing to do with you and what you brought home with you. You were the one to stumble upon all this. </p><p>The police system here was corrupt - anyone could tell you that. Evidence was planted, they used fake warrants, arrested people just for looking at them funny. They'd definitely make it look like you had done this if anyone got word you had even been so much as in the area when they came upon this themselves. </p><p>What other conclusion was there other than that you did it if you were to report it?</p><p>You were the town crazy after all… at least the only crazy not in the local asylum that everyone knew of.</p><p>You scanned over the area, making sure nothing that could possibly lead this to you was left. </p><p>Besides the pile of puke, there was nothing. You backtracked, rushing out of there as fast as you could without drawing attention to yourself. You stopped just outside of the tree line, leaning against a tree and taking deep breaths as everything caught up to you. </p><p>That scene would stick with your mind forever. Everything was crashing in around you. Your throat was closing, you gasped for breath and you felt like you couldn't speak. The ringing in your ears intensified until that was all you could hear. The world was spinning and your vision was fading out until only dimly-lit pin points was all you could see. </p><p>You reared back up, spinning around and coughing like there was heavy smoke in the air and you were an asthmatic. Blood came up and landed on your sleeve and you ripped your headphones out. You sat down and grabbed the sides of your head gently and shakily; legs spread out in front of you, you closed your eyes and focused on breathing. You focused on the fact you weren't about to die. Your heart wasn't about to beat out of your chest. In and out. In and out. Everything was okay. There was no reason to cry.</p><p>There was no reason to panic. </p><p>
  <em>Except there were many reasons to panic at that moment.</em>
</p><p>You reached into your pocket for your phone to look up some calming music as you laid back in the dirt and leaves. As your breathing slowly lowered back down to normal, you came to realize that despite how gruesome the way you had found the body had been, it was still.. <em>interesting</em>. </p><p>The way it had been laid out on display, the limbs chopped off into more than one piece. Almost like a doll separated at all its joints, set up to look like it was in prayer on the ground. As if doing so would have saved whoever they once were from whatever psychotic force had killed them.</p><p>You stood once again, not caring to dust yourself off as you went back to investigate. You wanted one more glance at it; one more memory before it was swarmed and ruined by police. You  would get up close to it this time, just for a look at all the cuts that had been made. But upon returning there was nothing there. Almost like it had never been there in the first place. </p><p>There were no limbs scattered around, no organs hanging from the trees. No buzzards or flies buzzing in your ears. Not a single drop of blood could be found. Nothing was there except for the small pile you had made to cover up the vomit.</p><p>"Another-” You breathed hysterically, clutching your shirt. “Another anxiety attack and over what?" You asked yourself. "A dead body that isn't- wasn't even there in the first place. Maybe they're all right and I <em>do</em> need to admit myself."</p><p>~~~</p><p>
  <em>When you wake up, it's to sunshine forcing its way inside through your window; bright and unwanted.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You groan, rolling over to face away from it. You can hear birds chirping as they too, wake up for the day, and the buzzing of your phones' alarm from under one of your many pillows. Your hand clambers around for it, finally grabbing onto the loudly buzzing object and turning it on only to be blinded by your lock screen; a bright picture you had taken on one of your many walks in the woods you used to take years ago now of you and your parents - back before everything had come to the surface and your parents began to focus more on themselves than on you; their only child still at home and who needed them the most.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You blinked rapidly, hissing and trying to look and see what time it was. Six o'clock was the perfect time to wake up if you wanted to be on time and not have to rush to get ready for school. However, lately you were the type of person to oversleep and not care about being late anymore. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Depression and anxiety could change a person a lot it seemed.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You forced yourself up, scratching your scalp vigorously like you did every morning and drawing your hands back down to see all the grease piled up underneath your jagged, barely-cared-for nails. The plush rug at the side of your bed met with your feet as you turned to stand, and you stretched as high as you could and cracking your sore joints before meandering over to get clean clothes out for the day; a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt, and your famous leather jacket you never went anywhere without. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The hot shower was greatly appreciated after a weekend of laying in bed, bingeing on some Gotham and barely eating due to the major case of anxiety you had gone through on-and-off throughout the past forty-eight hours alone in the house. Though, you found it ironic you still got anxious being alone despite always being that way. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>You scrubbed all the grime off  of you, washing twice and brushing your teeth while you waited to dry wrapped in your towel. You got dressed, now padding around on the wooden flooring in your mismatched socks down the hall and back into your bedroom. You sat down on your bed once again, stuffing your phone into your pocket and shoving your feet into your boots. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The sunlight streaming into your room had now changed from the dull grey of early morning, to a light pink and orange, accented by black shadows from the trees off in the woods just beyond your window that were tall enough to block the sun this early in the morning. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>A few, wispy clouds painted the sky as you make your way outside, heading off down the practically empty street towards the only school in the small town you had grown up in all your life. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>You wandered down the road, scrolling through social media on your phone just for something to do. Music played in your headphones, one of the latest Post Malone songs that had just been released just a few hours ago on YouTube. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>While walking past the woods however, something caught your attention out of the corner of your eye - some kind of quick movement that was out of the ordinary seeing as the wildlife stayed away from even the back-roads of the town; a flash of something dark ducking back down behind a tree, just out of sight.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You stopped in your tracks, pulling out one of your headphones and taking a curious step closer. Your eyes narrowed as you did so, caution and a bit of anger worming its way up into you. It didn't make any sense and that made you upset, made you angry. You didn't like things that were acting strange, especially when you were in the vicinity. Too many terrible pranks had been played on you by your peers for you to not be annoyed and angry at things such as this.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You entered the tree line slowly, looking around in the shadows of early morning.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"If you think you're going to scare me, I already saw you!" You shouted just loud enough to be heard from a little ways away. "You've overplayed this kind of prank guys. I'm not stupid and I'm not blind to your little tricks. If you really wanted to scare people, maybe try not getting spotted."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You continued to slowly and cautiously move forward deeper into the woods, being careful not to step on anything to give you away. A breeze blew through the trees, brushing your face and bringing the scent of something putrid to your nose. You gagged, bringing your arm up to your nose to block it. You looked up at the sky between the trees briefly and turned around a large bush of underbrush. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>There, on the leaf ridden ground was a rotting body; sprawled out with a deer forcing its muzzle deep into the hole in its stomach. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>You watch in both awe and fear as the deer slowly raises its head, antlers covered in intestines and foliage stained red by all of the blood. A skull shrouds its empty eyes in shadow and its maw is nothing but bone, glistening in the bright light of the moon. As it looked up at you, you became unable to keep yourself from walking forward, your hand reaching out on its own as if your body was no longer yours to control.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The deer panted through its open mouth, and the rancid breath felt wrong on the bare skin of your hand. It walked forward enough to meet your extended hand until it met with the middle of the beasts chest cavity that ripped open upon contact. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Your fingers met bone and your eyes widened upon seeing an empty cavity, a single grey heart in the dead center.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>"Take it..."</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The wind whispered into your ears, tempting you with its soft tone and underlying promise of comfort. </em>
</p><p>
  <em><strong>"It will be easy... Take it... Eat... Strengthen yourself... So that you may return... Return home... My... Flicker..."</strong> it dragged in breaths between words, as if whoever was speaking to you was struggling to breath through steadily rising water. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>You gripped the already dead heart. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The beast screamed in rage, charging forward and going through you, deeper into the frost and snow covered forest. The heart gave a single, weak beat and you brought it up to your lips, carefully biting into it like an apple. Blood exploded forth and drenched the front of the shirt you wore and down your pants. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The crimson fluid covered you from head to toe. You could smell the crimson and metallic sweetness of blood and your ears began to ring. You forced yourself to look up and away from your lower half to what lay ahead of you. </em>
</p><p><em>Mixed in with the trees beyond the clearing on the other side of the creek you stood beside was a creature; a tall being in all black and tentacles slithering around the thick trunks of trees</em>.</p><p>There was no face on the man and you found yourself awake in bed with a gasp.</p><p>It was the day after you had found the body in the woods, late at night with your bedroom TV turned on to the local news. Or at least you thought it was the next day. The date at the bottom of the screen indicated it was almost a week after, not a day.</p><p>
  <em>When had the week gone by? </em>
</p><p>
  <em>When had you fallen asleep? When had you even gotten to your school building? Had you even gone to school? </em>
</p><p><em>How the hell had you missed all of that?</em> </p><p>It didn't make any sense. </p><p>You could possibly call your mother and ask her what was going on; but she'd think you were crazy, not care, or better yet - be busy with another guy in some hotel and just ignore you like she always did.</p><p>You turn to look out your window. It normally would have given you a view of where you had seen the body, but instead of dark woods it was flashing lights of police cars and snow piled up onto the outside sill. Policemen and a small crowd of your neighbors silhouettes could be seen gathered around the area. </p><p>Someone must have found and reported the body like you should have but couldn't.</p><p>You pushed the thin curtains away just a fraction more, curiosity getting the better of you. There was police tape wrapped around almost a hundred yards worth of trees blowing in the harsh wind that was no doubt trying to rip it away. The long shadows being cast by the flashing reds and blue of the various police vehicles wavered as neighbors moved closer together or tried to peer over said police cars.</p><p>Then you finally saw it as your eyes continued to drift over the scene. The creature that had woken you from your dream; it was out there, standing in front of all those people and holding the head of the body up in the air for you to plainly see. waving it around as if calling out for you specifically. Despite not having a face to express emotion with, it still got this fondness across to you. A feeling of paternal protectiveness and ownership from it that you didn't understand.</p><p>A shiver ran down your spine and you curled your hands around the sleeves of your over-sized sweater in anxiety.</p><p>You typically only saw… <em>things</em>… as your mother had called it, for a day or two and then it would be gone. You'd only seen the tall, thin thing twice now, but you felt like you had known it forever. Like some thought that plagued the back of your mind for months - maybe even years. </p><p>
  <em>Did it think it was your father? Was your mind so messed up over how your real father had left you, that it came up with this to try and cope with the suddenness of the whole situation?</em>
</p><p>You let go of the curtain, turning back to face the TV screen that flickered in the corners with static. They were talking about the weather for tomorrow. It was supposed to be sunny and reach into the fifties by noon before lowering down once again to be in the thirties. Snowfall expected by sundown. </p><p>You watched every news program for that station until sunrise.</p><p>Not once did they mention the creature you had seen.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Season 1 - Episode 2: The Beast Part I</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Your eyes felt heavy and grainy by noon when you woke once again, having been unable to sleep last night after the dream you'd had. </p><p>You decided upon seeing the time that there would be no point in going to school for the remaining three and half hours it would be in-session, and moved downstairs to take the notes posted online from the comfort of your couch. You were glad that your teachers posted them on the school's website. You kept the curtains partially open just so you could see the snow and bright sunshine outside. </p><p>Inside the house was mostly kept dark though. Only the table-side lamp and the flickering light in the kitchen that had needed changed for months now were on. The large flat screen had the news on yet again as background noise. Without it, it was just too quiet to function. They continuously discussed the body found in the woods, and it was beginning to make you anxious. </p><p>When were the police going to come for you? </p><p>They were crappy and corrupt sure, but they wouldn't overlook something like a pile of covered up vomit so close to their crime scene. Surely they would have been able to find a sample of it and extract your DNA from it. If anything you should have been called in for questioning at the very least by them by now. </p><p>You shook your head, looking up from the screen of your laptop to the hallway only to see that thing; that tall, faceless creature from before. It was so massive in size it had to bend in order to fit into the small area. Darkness loomed just over its shoulder, whipping around small, wispy tendrils and brushing against the stark white face. </p><p>It was standing there, as if caught in the middle of doing something wrong like a child marking up the walls when it shouldn't be. </p><p><em>"(Y/N),"</em>  it spoke, broken and disjointed, echoing through your mind. <em>"Come to me, join us once again. You've had your fun. Now it is time to get back to work."</em></p><p>A piercing pain fills your head; flashes of memories you had forced back into the crevices of your mind. Things that had been forced back there by someone else unwanted years ago. Back when you were a child. </p><p>A ticking sound echoed forth, pushing the voice out. </p><p>You let out a scream, standing from the couch and falling to your knees. You gripped your head. Tears drenched your cheeks, rivers of black and red dripping quickly and forming a puddle on the wooden floor.</p><p><em>Forget- you wanted to forget it, you wanted me to force you to forget. Why are you trying to remember?</em> </p><p>
  <strong> <em>WHY ARE YOU ERASING MY WORK DAMNIT!?</em> </strong>
</p><p>You heard thumping rush towards you; three sets of feet out to reach you and three pairs of hands gripping at your upper arms and torso. You looked up at their faces as they carried you to the creature in your darkened hallway. They were all wearing masks and shouting at each other over you in what seemed like a crazed panic; almost like they were scared of punishment, like they were scared of <em>you</em>.</p><p>
  <strong>"GET OFF OF ME-"</strong>
</p><p>Your scream was cut off by a guttural roar. </p><p>
  <em>Not from an animal, not from that creature, but from you.</em>
</p><p>They dropped you as if burned and blood rained down on you as you writhed around on the floor. Every bit of you felt like it was on fire. You smelt ash and blood and burning flesh. The sounds of thousands of screams invaded your ears as innocent and guilty people alike all burned alive in their homes. Hundreds of terrified and crying faces circled you like wasps, buzzing and attacking your mind as if you had upset their nest.</p><p>You opened your eyes to see two burning arms. Arms that were ablaze and felt nothing but splintering wood beneath them as they dug their nails in and drew back up with nothing but ash. </p><p>A language you couldn't understand yet fell from your lips as you looked up to them. </p><p>
  <strong> <em>"Leave,"</em> </strong>
</p><p>They stood in the hallway, lit by an orange glow that could only come from a burning fire. They almost seemed to cower away from you, huddled up against that creature. You stumbled down to the ground as you tried standing to face them, more of the ancient language flowing from you as if you had spoken it for thousands of years.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>"Leave this place, never return for the boy. He shall live here, with me as his guardian and protector. Shall you ever step foot onto this land again, Slenderman, I shall set you ablaze where it is you stand until not even the ash remains for you to resurrect upon."</em> </strong>
</p><p>The creature stepped towards you, speaking a language you could not understand either. </p><p>You stepped forward to meet him, letting out an ear shattering screech. </p><p>It lasted for hours it seemed, the noise deafening anyone around you until they all vanished in the blink of an eye. The sound of glass shattering followed the scream and a strong gust of cold wind penetrated the room. Darkness followed after it, extinguishing the flames that coated your body like a thick blanket. </p><p>
  <em>…You remembered everything.</em>
</p><p>More cold wind blew in, making you shiver and look towards the shattered window. You felt drained of everything your body had to offer you, though a small, new feeling now made its presence known deep within your gut. </p><p>It was dark out, and the power had been blown out for your house. </p><p>Whoever- <em>whatever</em> that thing was that had taken over your body still dwelled in your mind; slinking around as a stray cat left in an alleyway. It stayed away from the front of your mind. But it was there, and you could <em>feel</em> it.</p><p>Brushing your bare feet against the flooring as you moved to stand once again, the feeling of warm scorch marks made you look down. There was a large area of the wood that looked as if a bonfire had been lit on it. More scorch marks in the shape of some kind of large birds’ foot with long talons led away from the couch to where you found yourself just before the hallway entrance.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>Leave... Must hurry... They will return... He will destroy us... Must run, quickly…</em> </strong>
</p><p>You rushed forward up the stairs and into your bedroom. You packed and got dressed quickly, fear and anxiety creeping up your spine like a fire. </p><p>You coughed and had to stop in front of the sink in order to hack up a glob of bloody spit. You grimaced at it but continued on. Clothes, cleaning essentials, laptop, a couple notebooks to keep up with your studies if you could, the stacks of money your mother had left you; you grabbed everything you could think of that you needed in a single bag that you slung over your shoulder.</p><p>You exited your house and made your way over to the shed in your backyard that contained your motorcycle. You needed to leave. Leave and not come back. It's not like anyone in this town would miss you or even notice you were gone. They'd all go on with their lives like you had never existed in the first place. </p><p>
  <em>So why were you angry? Why were you wiping tears off your cheeks as you hopped on and put the helmet on your head?</em>
</p><p>You rushed out of there, and you would never look back.</p><p>~~~</p><p>You go until it's nearly three am and you can't keep your eyes open anymore. The restless thing in your mind is tired as well, settling down as soon as you enter the motel covered in melting snow and forming icicles. The teen at the front desk hands you a key with a yawn and you head off to your room for the night. It's on the second floor and the curtains are drawn, not letting any light in from the street lamps. </p><p>The smell of burnt cigarettes and mold permeates the air like a thick cloud and you almost gag - except this time the smell is comforting, familiar.</p><p>You set your bag down in the chair across from the squeaking bed and shed off both your leather jacket and over-sized hoodie. Your boots come off next and you end up leaving your socks on, just in case. </p><p>You flop backwards, bouncing and letting out a long breath that feels like you've been holding it in all your life.</p><p>You could still see it; see all the destruction and the burning flames and faces with it, the screams of agony as those around you burned alive. You felt sorrow and pride at the memories, the ones the slithering thing in your mind brought with it when it woke up only just a few hours ago. </p><p>It had changed you, for better or worse was the question now. What was it going to do to you? Now that it was awake and living inside you, able to take over at any point.</p><p>It could burn the entire little town you were staying in to the ground the moment you closed your eyes in a matter of seconds. And you'd be none the wiser because it would move you to another town, further away from the other creature stalking you. You were scared to sleep now because of it. You were scared to be awake too for the chance you might see that thing again.</p><p>The thing that follows only known as Slenderman in this part of the world.</p><p>You were scared to be alive, to have to deal with everything that was to come. </p><p>You closed your eyes, losing the battle to stay awake and succumbing to the need for sleep. Faces and the smell of fire followed you in your dreams-turned-nightmares, haunting you as you traveled down the road of a village you had seen hundreds of times throughout your eternal life. </p><p>You were no longer human; you were something more. Something that brought fire and death and suffering in its wake as it walked among the humans and took their bodies over at birth.</p><p>You had never had the chance to be yourself, be who you were meant to be. </p><p>This ancient thing inside you had taken over the moment you were formed in your mother's womb. It had forced fires to burst around you until the age of ten. </p><p>A priest had managed to force it back, made you forget about the being until something triggered the memories and beast to come forth.</p><p>
  <em>The Body... </em>
</p><p>~~~</p><p>You awoke the next afternoon with tears in your eyes and stomach churning. You rushed towards the bathroom, puking up bile and acid into the toilet as you leaned over it. It burned as it came up and out, bringing blood with it as it damaged your throat. </p><p>You let out a pitiful whimper once nothing else would come up, twisting around to lay on the cool tile below you. </p><p>You wanted it to end. Whatever was to happen to come and do what it wished already. It was all too much; the memories, the running, the fear. You wanted it all to stop. </p><p>You lay there for what seemed like hours, going in and out of panic attacks and feeling as the being inside your mind twisted about to try and comfort you by setting fire to your skin; only causing you to curl up tighter, shedding more tears that turned to steam upon contact with your heated skin.</p><p>You kept your eyes squeezed shut for most of the time until the beast finally receded back into the depths.</p><p>A noise made you finally open them however; the sound of the bathroom door being opened slowly as someone tried to be quiet. You froze for a split second, then slowly turned your head to look at whoever it was.</p><p>A man stood above you, tall and thin with shaggy brown hair and thick looking sideburns. He wore an orange-ish colored leather jacket and the mask he had over his head kept you from seeing all but his brown eyes. Behind him were two others; a shorter male in an orange hoodie and black mask, and a tall, wide shouldered boy about your age - maybe a few years older.</p><p>You could see their mouths moving beyond what covered their faces as they spoke back and forth, but couldn't make anything out above the ringing in your ears. </p><p>
  <em>What were they saying? How had they gotten in and found you to begin with? What did they even want?</em>
</p><p>Without wanting to, or meaning to, your skin burst into flames out of fear and the need to defend yourself from these strange intruders. The beast crawling underneath the surface of your mind suddenly flared up just as your skin had, making its dislike for the beings known.</p><p>You swallowed, and squeezed your eyes shut tightly in an attempt to make the fire stop.</p><p>At this point you rolled over onto your knees and shoulders, still clutching at your stomach. The pain just wouldn't go away. No matter how little you moved and kept your eyes closed to avoid vertigo in case that was it, stuck with you like glue. </p><p>The man in the leather jacket took a step towards you, and you responded by lighting yourself on fire involuntarily once again and staring up fearfully at him. The flames weren't as bright as they had been the first time, nor were they as hot. But it did it's job as they all suddenly backed away as much as they felt able to. </p><p>You groaned, the pain in your stomach intensifying until it felt as if there was something inside trying to force a way out. You gripped at it, using all your strength to try and push on it until it stopped. The smell of burning flesh and scorching blood filled the room as shouts roared up from the other three.</p><p>"Stop him before he kills himself!"</p><p>The sound of glass breaking reached your ears just in time for heavy, cold spray to wash over you. You cried out at the sensation as it hurt worse than any pain you’d ever felt in your life. The coldness of it was too much. They were putting you out and there was nothing you could do about it. They were going to kill you. This stuff was going to kill you.</p><p>You were going to die.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Season 1 - Episode 3: Amnesia</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>An angry, scathing voice surrounds you as you wake. </p><p>It's scratchy, sounding husky and disused as it spits words out with a violence you can only remember experiencing twice before; once from your angry father, and again from your mother before she stormed after him as he left the house. He, your father, had said it was your fault. What he had done was because of you and it would be forever unforgivable.</p><p>You squeeze your eyes shut, trying to force the memories out as you move to sit up, hearing metal clinking. The voices stop and you look down to see you are in medical garb, detained to a metal headboard by a loose chain, long enough for you to stretch your arm out in front of you. The bed is sturdy and soft, covered in white fabric and baby blue covers placed over your bare legs. </p><p>It smells of bleach in here and it burns your nostrils upon taking in a deep breath. You stretch and groan. Taking in another deep inhale and letting it back out. You haven't had a good night's rest in ages, and it feels good to be well rested. </p><p>Funny how your mind won't allow you to do something so basic and healthy for the body. </p><p>Your science teachers had always told you the body was all about survival, yet all yours wanted to do was tear you apart little by little, starting at the brain and working its way down.</p><p>Looking up from your lap you begin to fully realize you are no longer in your motel room. Your bag is across the room in a stray metal chair, and medical supplies are littered around on a countertop to the left of you. A window is placed above it, one of the lower panes cracked and vines overgrown. </p><p>Fluorescent light flickers above you every few moments.</p><p>Looking to your right you see where the angry voice was coming from. There are three tall men - taller than you at least - standing beside a metal door that looks out of place compared to the wood decorating the simple room. They stand in a clustered formation of a semicircle, looking back at you in what appears to be shock.</p><p>"I thought you said he'd be out for at least a day Jack." The man with long black hair and a scarred face says from the corner of his wide, red lips. "What the fuck is he doing up after a few fucking hours?"</p><p>You blink at them, beginning to clutch a bit of the blue blanket into your hands and cowering down into your shoulders. You feel like you’re in trouble. They are angry at you for doing something you weren't supposed to do and you are chained to this bed. You must have done something to upset them, clearly as the angry voiced man turns to look at the man in the blue mask across from him.</p><p>The man shrugs at him in response, wandering over to the counter on the other side of the room and bringing grey hands out to mess with what sounds like medicine bottles. You watch him work, silently and tilting your head to try and see around the broad shoulders blocking your view. </p><p>Not only do you feel as if you are in trouble, you feel like a child too; wanting to know what everything is and curious about what's going to happen with not a care in the world. If the being inside your mind is calm around these three, then so must you be. They aren't a threat; they aren't the ones who want to harm you or put you in danger. </p><p>The man with the blue mask leaking a thick, black substance  turns back around, tapping the air bubbles out of a needle and you can't help but to freeze up. </p><p>Cold sweat starts to pop up at the base of your neck and on your forehead. Your hands suddenly feel clammy and a buzzing begins in your ears. Dizziness and nausea hit you at once, your vision closing until it's only pinpoints you can see from. Your lungs do not wish to work and your heart will not pump blood through you as long as there is that single needle. You know it will not hurt upon injection, but the fear and panic you feel still surfaces violently at the sight. </p><p>You do <em>not</em> like needles. </p><p>Doctors and nurses holding you down as you screamed and cried, your mother shouting at you to suck it up - all of it made you dizzy. You were panicking, and you were panicking hard. </p><p>Of all the things to be scared or terrified of in this kind of situation and it just had to be the needle.</p><p>You seized up immediately, pushing yourself as far up against the metal headboard as you could, focusing solely on what was in his hands. The other two in the room rushed forward. The one in white reached out to grab at you while the man from your motel room with the orange goggles held him back.</p><p>"St-stop! He's having a pa-panic attack Jeff. G-grabbing him isn't going to help!"</p><p>Jeff, the man with long black hair, huffed, pushing himself away from the brunet man. He glanced up at you, a scowl on his face and hands stuffed into his pockets, though he didn’t seem upset at you - just the situation perhaps. And from this angle you could see the rivulets of scars going up the side of his face and his scalp. </p><p>There was no hair on this half, leaving it out in the open for everyone to see. </p><p>You wondered what had happened to him and how he got all those marks. </p><p>Jeff exited the room and the boy in goggles stepped up after he did so. His gloved hands were held up towards Jack in a placating manner, portraying his want for the masked man to wait for a moment before continuing his approach. </p><p>He stopped at the side of your bed, breathing loud enough for you to hear the calmness of it. His eyes were trained on you, even with the goggles on you could see them staring intently, expression as calm as could be shown with a mask covering the bottom half of his face.</p><p>"Let me c-calm him d-down Jack. I've de-dealt with panic attacks myself." His gaze flickered up to Jack who was still holding the needle at the ready in his hand.</p><p>You could practically hear the annoyance in the way he, too, huffed as Jeff had done not too long beforehand, then shrugged and put it down out of your sightline. "Fine, Toby. You deal with it."</p><p>If you hadn't been panicking you would have thought it strange how Jack's voice sounded like more than one speaking at the same time. Toby - as you knew him as now - put his hands down and returned to looking you in the eye. </p><p>He had to kneel down in order to be eye level with you. </p><p>"Are you ok-kay with me holding your hand while J-Jack gives you whatever he needs t-to? I can t-te-tell you don't like n-needles, do y-you?" He kept his voice leveled and smooth, making you feel calmer already.</p><p>You steadied your breath, though you gave a hiccup every now and then, and held out your shaky hand for Toby to take. His hand was warm, and much bigger than yours. His fingers wrapped themselves around your own, and he brushed his thumb up and down the skin of your hand. </p><p>You turned to look at him as Jack punctured you with the cause of your anxiety.</p><p>~~~</p><p>The room they had put you in was a drastic change from the one you had woken up in. You followed Toby; down a creaking hall with cracks in the walls paint and mildly dusty crevices, to a small room whose walls weren't as cracked and a coat of pale (favorite color) on them. </p><p>Toby had stuck around just beyond the entrance to your new room for a few minutes to talk to you. He formally introduced himself to you and explained that you were expected to live there with them from now on, though you had no idea who all this ‘<em>them</em>’ he was speaking of were.</p><p>There were two windows with heavy fabric curtains to keep the light out; one above the wooden dresser and the other above the bed you were provided with. A stack of blankets were folded neatly at the end of the twin bed with two fluffy looking pillows sat at the head. Across from the bed was a large wooden bookshelf that was incredibly dusty, though full of thick, colorfully bound books. </p><p>It held many old looking books and musty smelling childish knick-knacks upon it. The paint chipped off of it when you ran your hand over it gently and you picked up an older looking stuffed animal you found upon inspecting the wooden door you noticed beside the bed. It was a floppy-eared cotton rabbit with two black, button eyes and a flimsy red bow tied around its thin neck. </p><p>It felt familiar somehow, and you hugged it tightly to your chest for no other reason than that you could.</p><p>You continued to look inside the walk-in closet. </p><p>It was covered from top-to-bottom in your clothes. Your shoes and boots lined the floor of it, and a small dresser was against the back wall. Upon opening said dresser you found your pants, boxers, socks and the few scarves and hats you owned folded neatly inside the drawers. </p><p>Everything inside the closet looked like it had always been in there - that it all <em>belonged</em> in there. </p><p>You reached up with your spare hand, taking down your famous leather jacket. You looked it over briefly, looking to be sure it was in okay condition as you wondered how everything had gotten here. You set the rabbit down on top of the dresser and shrugged the jacket on just as someone knocked on your closed bedroom door. </p><p>You glanced up, closing the closet and turning off the light inside.</p><p>You walked over to the door slowly. A second round of knocks came and you opened it to reveal the man in the orange hoodie from your motel room and your home. He stood there awkwardly at first - shifting from foot to foot as he looked down at you. At least you assumed he was from behind the black mask he wore. </p><p>
  <em>What was it with people wearing masks around here?</em>
</p><p>"You're up. Good. Dinner is almost ready and Slender wants you down in five so you can meet everyone." He said, his voice odd sounding, like there was a voice changer hidden somewhere in his skin tight mask. "Well - almost everyone. Some of us went out and won't be back till later."</p><p>"Who are you?"</p><p>He shifted once again, but held out a gloved hand for you. You took it gently, unsure if you could trust anyone here - though Toby seemed nice at least since he helped you earlier with your panic attack and had actually introduced himself to you. </p><p>"Brian. Everyone calls me Hoodie cause of," he motioned at himself. "you know." </p><p>You nodded. "I'm (Y/N), nice to properly meet you…<em> Hoodie</em>?"</p><p>"Call me Brian if it makes you feel better about it until you get used to everything.” He paused for a moment, shifting from foot-to-foot again. “I know how drastic a change like this is first-hand. Me and Tim, er-<em> Masky</em> went through a similar situation as you did."</p><p>"What do you mean?"</p><p>"Slender told us not to say too much since you've lost your memory for a lot of things. He looked into your mind and saw that while you do have a lot back from when that priest sealed off the being inside you and your early memories with it, you still don't remember a major part of your past." He explained.</p><p>"<em>Should I?</em>"</p><p>It came out before you could even process what Brian had said. </p><p>Of course you remembered them; you remembered Toby, him, the man in the feminine looking mask you assumed was this ‘Tim’ Brian was talking about, and Slender showing up at your house. You remembered Slender showing himself in your dreams and standing outside your window, waving the head at you with whatever those things were on his back. </p><p>But the way he had asked it made it sound like you should have known who they all were your whole life. Not just since this whole thing began almost two weeks ago now.</p><p>Brian moved to lean against the doorway, hands in his hoodie pocket and looking up at the ceiling - well, his<em> head</em> was tilted toward the ceiling. You couldn't exactly tell where he was looking at with his mask on. </p><p>You moved to lean against the other side of the doorway, half in your room and half out in the hallway where anyone could do anything to you as they went past.</p><p>"You should, but he said you should be able to on your own time." He then tilted his head back down at you. "But if not he wanted me to tell you he could unlock them for you. He wants us all to help you remember naturally though, wants us to try that for a while first before anything else." </p><p>You stared.</p><p>“Dinner should be ready.”</p><p>He stepped away from the doorway, shaking his head to signal you to follow him. </p><p>You stepped out, closing your door behind you and followed as he led you down the hallway, past doors with posters and dents in the wood and even more cracked painting on the walls. The stairs were creaky as the two of you stepped down them, and you held onto the railing in a death grip, scared they'd fall out from under you any second. </p><p>Once you were off the stairs, Brian led you into a room just off of the stairway.</p><p>Inside was spider-web covered chandeliers hung precariously over a long wooden table laid out with plates and dishes full of food ready to be served.  He sat down at one of the empty seats besides the guy you assumed to be Masky. You went and sat beside him on his right, just as Toby wandered into the room and came over to sit down on your other side. </p><p>He smiled at you as he sat. At least it looked like he did as you watched his eyes squint at the corners behind his orange-tinted goggles and half-mask.</p><p>You smiled back and then lowered your head. You felt awkward sitting there. You hardly knew anybody here, yet you were somehow supposed to remember all of them from your past or something like that? None of it made any sense to you and since they all apparently knew you, they'd more than likely expect you to remember them. </p><p>
  <em>Right?</em>
</p><p>You took to glancing up at the others at the table. Your eyes immediately spotted both Jeff and Jack sitting together at the end. Jack had his mask tilted to the side, exposing more of his grey skin and the sharp teeth of his mouth as he responded to something Jeff had muttered, who sat slouched back into his seat and held his arms crossed over his chest. </p><p>Looking at the other end you spotted a ginormous monochrome colored clown. He had shaggy black hair and a sharp looking nose; wore feathers on his shoulders and a long striped shirt to cover his even longer arms that ended in bandage enclosed black claws. </p><p>He laughed suddenly at nothing, a crazed cackle while he turned his grey eyes onto you.</p><p>"I look wonderful don't I?" He asked and the whole table quieted to turn and look at him. "That's why you're staring, right?"</p><p>He could only be talking to you. </p><p>Everyone turned their attention on you, and you hunched in on yourself, cheeks burning and shame roiling in your stomach. The being residing within you curled itself up in the front of your mind, purring somehow to try and soothe you as a cat might do so in your lap.</p><p>"Sorry... didn't mean to." You stumbled out.</p><p>"Nonsense. Of course you meant to!" The clown cackled once again, grating on your ears. He then looked directly at the end of the table at Jeff, grinning from ear to ear with his black painted lips "Why else would you be looking over here? It can't be because I'm an ugly clown now can it? So it must be because I'm<em> beautiful.</em>" </p><p>Jeff slammed his hands down on the table as he stood and held up a knife from beside his empty plate, making you jump.</p><p>"I can make you beautiful you ugly fuck! Just come over here and I can do it for ya' right the fuck now ya' whiney bitch!"</p><p>The clown erupted into even more cackling laughter as the table devolved into chaos. Everyone was yelling at each other and a stray knife was flung into the wall behind your head from somewhere. </p><p>It was all you could do to duck down and cover your head, hiding underneath the table with both Toby and Jack.</p><p>
  <strong>.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>"͚̮̰̘͗͋̔̓̑͟Ş̵͇̜̖̗̲͔̟̜͉̈́̈̍̄̕Ț̵̛̼̝̗͉̳̬̤̀̈́͛̔̌̒̏Ǫ̟̗͇̤̝̤̰̠͖͆̿̎̿͗͊̌̄P̶̰̥̬͎̈́̔̃́͘͢͠ Ț̳̼̗̺̄̓̾̽̐̆̓͋ͅH͖̳̼̱̹̹̯̘͂͒͋̚ͅI̷͕͍̮̳̅̏͂̑̒̈̓̈̾͜S͉̯͖̜͔̒̈̉̑̐͐̚ Ą͓͍̮̦̺̰͂̊̊̌̿̉Ṯ̵͖̱̥͈̬̜̪̉̆̉͐̊͐̍̈͘ͅ Ȯ̷̦͇̹̤̣̉̎̈̾̚͡͡͝Ņ̗̦̗͔̰̩͙̱̈́͆̄̈͒̈̉̊͝ͅC̸̼̘̘͚̖̦̽̓̽̿̿̅̓̏̕͡Ĕ̵̩̥̤̲̭̝͆̍̓̔̌͘̕!̵̢͈̰̠͙̹͖̞̙͚͂̉̄͋̀̄"̴̖̻̠͎̗͚̣̔̓͑͊̋̽̏͑͐͢͠</strong>
  </em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Season 1 - Episode 4: The Beast Part II</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You froze at the voice, hackles standing on edge at the back of your neck. You recognized the voice; remembered the fear that was once settled in your whole body when he had spoken to you for the first time. You swallowed uneasily, forcing the saliva down past the impossibly large lump in your throat. You dared not look up from under your hiding spot as Toby and Jack had. They had responded instantly to it, like a couple of dogs hearing someone blow into a dog whistle to get their attention. </p><p>Everyone had stopped shouting and throwing things, instead focusing on the elder being at the entrance of the room. You didn't want to stand, didn't want to look at that thing again. But it was as if your body moved on autopilot without you. Something was forcing you to stand. You could feel it making your body move its way out from under the protection of the table. The beast within your mind was hissing at you to stop, to run away and hide from him. </p><p>You turned to look at it, <em>at Slenderman</em>, standing at the head of the table behind the clown. </p><p>The things from his back were whipping around in an agitated frenzy, glitching away from hitting anyone abruptly as if there was a fire surrounding them. Fear trickled down your back like a spider crawling its merry way towards the floor. </p><p>You were rooted to the spot, staring up into his empty face.<br/> </p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>"͈̤̫̺͙̳̒̉̾͑͌͘͟W̷̨̧̙͇̠̻͖̖͖͂͌̐̽̓̄̽̔͟͝h̵̡̧͚̦͚̖̫͖̻͆̇̽̅̉͜͞ȁ̴̦̻̯̖͖͇̝̤̟͐̎̓́͗̓̃̕t̡̡͍̞̠͕̙͐̀̽̊̇̒͑̓͟͟͠ i̷̤͈̯̩̯̻͆̋̇̾͜͡ş̸̢̨̡͉̪̱͍͉͛̎̿͊̍͝͞͝ t̷̢͉̥̺͉̭̜͈͔̉̂̀̇̅͐͘͜͞h̨̛̰͓͇̗̺̩͎̉͑̆̽͘͘͠ͅĕ̢̧̩̯͈̲̻̘̪̒̅̈̂͠ ṁ͈̰̠̗͗̀̈̋̿̌͐͑͠ͅe̷͓̯̰͕͎̎̏̌͛̃̇͡ȧ̡̳̠͍͉͔̟̱͋̈́͊͊̌̒̑n̶̮̭͔͍̝͋̌̂̈́͋͘͝͞ͅi̭̙͍̯̖͉͓̒͘͘͘ǹ̙̞̳͇̩̙͕͙̑͛̎̈̑͘͝g̶̘͙̜͓͚͓̲͛̆̏͋͐̒̒͋͘͝ o͇̹̪̭͚͋̔̂̿̀̏̒͊̚͟͝f̨̦̦̟̹̋͋̍͊̈̚͠ ą̶͍̼̗̳̬͈͈͍̋̎͑͆̐͒͞l̷̢̛͔̮̼̤̝̀̑̔̋͊̃͠l̶̨̛̟̠͔̊̏̉̚͟ t̴͉̰̹̯̭̭̭̳̜̋̾̂̅̕̚͢h̶͚̳̩̲̟̄͂̅̌̑̈́͋ͅi̸̩͓̥͔̟͉͋͗̒̃̾̔̕s̛̱̟͉͓͖̹̫͔̞̍͆͊́͑̍?̡͉̫͔̻̠̗̰̾͂́̈́͑͜͢"̷̹̭͍͕͙̞̩̞̆̌̍͑̿̇̉̊͢</em>
  </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>The voice was even more grating than either Jeff's or the clown's voices combined. You shuddered in place. You wanted desperately to be as far away from him as you could. You wanted your skin to erupt in flames, willed and begged the being within you to do so in order to have some kind of protection. </p><p>But nothing happened.</p><p>Your veins and blood felt like ice shards running through your system as you tried.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Stop... We are only hurting... Ourselves... They did this... Blocked us from... Our fire and flames…</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>Your breathing stopped at this. </p><p>They took away your only means of protection. They rendered you weak and unable to defend yourself from the monster before you. That's what had been in the needle Jack had punctured you with. But if what Brian had told you was true-<em> Slenderman must have ordered him to</em>. </p><p>It wasn't his fault, it was <em>His. </em></p><p>And yours for allowing it to happen without so much as a no.</p><p>No one uttered a word or an explanation as to what had happened. Instead they all just sat down at their seats. They hung their heads in submission and remained as silent as corpses. </p><p>You wished you could do something as simple as that, yet your body remained in place, staring up at him like a statue. </p><p>One of the tendrils from his back wrapped itself around your waist, lifting you up high into the air and bringing you closer to him. You stuttered and wheezed to get breath inside your lungs, nails digging into the black thing holding you up out of pure terror.</p><p>“B̶e̷c̷a̷u̶s̶e̷ ̷y̴o̵u̷ ̶h̵a̶v̵e̶ ̷b̷e̴e̵n̷ ̸f̸o̸r̴c̷e̸d̷ ̸t̵o̶ ̷l̶o̷s̷e̴ ̴y̵o̶u̵r̵ ̷m̵e̶m̸o̴r̷i̸e̸s̷,̶ ̵I̶ ̷w̴i̵l̵l̶ ̷f̶o̵r̷g̴i̵v̴e̸ ̶t̷h̷i̸s̶ ̶p̶a̴r̶t̸i̶c̴u̵l̸a̶r̷ ̷i̷n̶c̴i̵d̷e̷n̶t̷.̴”He said after staring into your eyes for a few moments, everyone's eyes turning to look at you. “I̴f̶ ̴t̵h̷i̴s̷ ̴h̵a̸p̸p̴e̴n̵s̷ ̶a̴g̴a̸i̸n̷ ̶h̷o̵w̴e̶v̷e̸r̵,̷ ̴n̷e̴x̷t̷ ̷t̷i̶m̴e̸ ̶I̶ ̷w̴i̷l̴l̵ ̶n̴o̴t̶ ̸b̸e̷ ̴s̸o̵ ̸l̸e̷n̷i̵e̶n̸t̷.”</p><p>When you failed to respond he set you down on the ground beside him, towering over you to where the shadows made the area where his eyes should be stand out in an angry way. </p><p>And suddenly your body was responding to you again. </p><p>Your skin burst into flames and your feet pushed you back up against the wall closest to you. Your lungs and throat relaxed enough to allow you to let out a shriek, scrambling to push yourself further away from him and everyone around you. The being inside you was roaring at him, trying to scare him away from you with no results. He tilted his head at you, tendrils stilling at his back as something entered your mind, making you struggle against the wall even harder to get away. </p><p>It poked around, spiking terror everywhere it went. </p><p>And then both Toby and Brian were stood in front of you, arms up towards Slender in a placating manner.</p><p>"Sir stop! You're scaring him into a panic attack!" Toby called out over your animalistic screaming. </p><p>Brian groaned, as if in pain but somehow managed to utter what he wanted to say. </p><p>"Slender - Sir - <em>please</em> back away. Let us take him outside and handle it."</p><p>You could only focus on Slenderman and watch as he leaned away from the three of you, looking as if to think it over. The thing poking around in your mind stopped, retreating as if suddenly spooked by a rabid animal that had come running out into the middle its path. </p><p>"Very well. Take him outside and calm him down. I see what the issue is now and will be in my office."</p><p>And just like that he was gone.</p><p>Toby and Brian coaxed you outside once you had calmed down enough to not burn them if they touched you or got too close. You could still feel everybody watching you, even as Toby took off his jacket and put the hood up over your head while they led you outside. It was soft and warm on the inside from him, and it smelt like axe body spray when you managed to breath in through your nose normally. </p><p>You didn't want to let go of it though you knew you would have to eventually. It was rude to take something that wasn't yours in the first place after all.</p><p>The three of you sat down on the wooden steps of a back porch and you kept your head down, gripping the edges of Toby's jacket like a lifeline. </p><p>He placed a hand on your shoulder, rubbing back and forth between your shoulder blades.</p><p>"I probably should have warned you Slender could be a little intimidating." Brian said.</p><p>You glanced up at him without moving your head. Then back down to your sock covered feet. Strange you still had them on after turning into a human shaped bonfire in there. </p><p>"It's fine. I was scared of him before that." You muttered out quietly.</p><p>Your throat hurt from all the screaming.</p><p>"No it's not! Both of us should have told you, and we didn't because I'm an idiot and he's a fucking mess. Quit saying shit is fine when it's not right now before you make it into a habit (Y/N)."</p><p>Toby chuckled in a way that said he couldn't believe what he was hearing from the two of you.</p><p>Brian reached over behind you and you heard the distinct sound of someone getting smacked in the face. You shot your head around to look at Toby, expecting him to be cursing Brian out, only to see him giving him a deadpan face; almost like Toby was annoyed and this exact thing had happened numerous times before. </p><p>"Shut up Rodgers."</p><p>"W-what are you t-telling m-me to shut up for!? You sh-should be telling h-him that for blaming himself! That sh-shit ain't good for your mental h-he-health n' shit!" He held his arms up, exasperated at the entire situation. "And quit h-hitting me when you know I d-don't feel squat!"</p><p>"Don’t act stupid and I might not."</p><p>You couldn't help the small snort at that.</p><p>"When you guys put it that way, we're all stupid." They both settled down after you said it, relaxing back into their original sitting positions. You smiled to yourself, taking the time to nudge them both by leaning into them briefly. "Thanks for helping me back there either way. I'm pretty sure I would have burned the place down had you not."</p><p>"Don't worry about it."</p><p>Brian reached up to ruffle your hair through the hood, and Toby dragged you into his side in a half hug. </p><p>Maybe the being within you was right about these guys. Maybe you really could trust them… </p><p>~~~</p><p>
  <em>A few short weeks... </em>
</p><p>You were relaxing in your bed, listening to music on your phone when Jeff knocked on your door frame. You looked up to him from your screen, seeing he only had on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt today instead of his ripped jeans and blood-stained hoodie. He had a grin on his face and his hands in his pockets as he looked down at you as he walked over to stand in front of you. </p><p>You took out your headphones and sat up. </p><p>Something in his wide blue eyes sparked, and you could already tell what he was going to ask before he even opened his mouth.</p><p>"Masky and Hoodie brought back some food from one of their jobs." His voice was no longer that scathing one he had been using when you had first woken up here. Instead, over time, it had gotten softer whenever you were around. "They have cake out if you want some before LJ gets ahold of it and eats it all. You gonna come along and get some with me, Runt?"</p><p>The two of you had gotten cozier around each other in that short time frame. He had been given the task of training you with hand-to-hand combat out in the field - despite you not wanting to harm others. And between water breaks and banter during fights he had warmed up to you rather quickly. He no longer saw you as weak, just damaged as he and most everyone else in the house had been at one point. </p><p>You still didn't know how he had gotten so much about yourself out of you though.</p><p>You smiled, nodding and setting your phone down on the bed as you followed him down the stairs you no longer feared. It had been a few weeks now of staying here with everyone, and if LJ could carry a passed out Jeff and Toby up those stairs quite a few times at once, then you wouldn't doubt them. </p><p>"How'd it go last night?" You asked just to strike up conversation as you made your way to the kitchen together lazily.</p><p>"Good. I made a family beautiful before the cops showed up. One of the kids saw me with the mom and screamed. Think one of the neighbors heard and called in." He shrugged as if not bothered by it too much. "When are you supposed to start going out on jobs again?"</p><p>"As soon as I can remember a little bit more about what happened before-" you trailed off slightly, pointing to your head. "You know. The priest thing happened?"</p><p>"Ah," he nodded, opening the kitchen door for you.</p><p>Inside was Toby leaning against the fridge and eating a slice of cake of his own; as well as Tim and Brian who each sat at the island, chatting while they ate a slice individually. </p><p>Toby waved at you, his mouth guard down and the hole in his cheek exposed as he smiled. Both Tim and Brian turned to look at you, their masks adjusted to only reveal their mouths. They too, waved at you when you entered, then returned to their cake respectively.</p><p>You hadn't seen Slenderman since dinner the first night you were here. </p><p>When the three of you - Toby, Brian and yourself,  had all reentered the house, Slenderman hadn't returned to officially begin dinner as he usually did. Instead Jack had been the one to do so after the three of you sat back down in your seats. Everyone was quiet as they ate that night, refusing to acknowledge you had even left or anything had happened in the first place.</p><p>Except for Jeff. </p><p>He had been the one to go up to your room after you had left the table, knocking on your door and shoving his way inside the room to know what happened. While it was happening you had thought he was just being a bully, but looking back on it now you know he was worried in his own way.</p><p>"I think I might want to use a mask like the rest of you guys." You said, going off of what Jeff asked a few moments ago. </p><p>"Anything in particular you were thinking about? We could go out and raid a costume store for one you could decorate. Footage isn't too hard to erase with Elf-Shit sticking around." Jeff snickered around a bite of his cake.</p><p>You shook your head, already knowing <em>'Elf-Shit'</em> was referring to Ben, of whom you didn't entirely trust yet. Something about the blond with bleeding eyes just didn't sit right with you, and you couldn't shake the feeling from the few times you had seen him around the house. </p><p>He was strange in a way you almost couldn't describe. He would follow you with his eyes whenever you would walk past him, a weird look in them you'd never seen anyone give you before. He gave you the creeps to put it simply, and you wanted nothing to do with him if you could help it.</p><p>"I'll manage. No need to bother him with stupid stuff like looking for a mask when I can just go buy one instead."</p><p>You shrugged, hoping none of them could see the discomfort in your body language.</p><p>They didn't thankfully, and you brought a forkful of the cake up to your mouth. It wasn't exactly your favorite, but it was still better than eating random granola bars or leftovers from a few days ago you'd find while searching in the kitchen. You would have rather had (Favorite Dessert), a large portion of it all to yourself with (Preferred Toppings) on it. Yeah, that sounded good right about now, and your mouth was drooling heavily around your bite of cake at the thought of it as you spaced out.</p><p>"-earth to (Y/N)," Brian said, waving a hand in front of your face.</p><p>"What?"</p><p>Jeff snorted. "You were spacing out and got some drool on the counter."</p><p>You glanced down to see there was, in fact, a small puddle of drool on the counter between your elbows. You laughed nervously, blush rising on your face. You accepted the napkin offered to you; first wiping the corner of your mouth and then said puddle up.</p><p>"I d-don't th-think you can go and buy a m-mask." Toby interjected suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to the slightly ticking boy. "I m-mean, how are you g-going to g-get into town to find a sh-shop? You were unc-conscious when you got h-here, and you haven't been sent out on any as-assignments or gone out with s-somebody since then. H-how would you find your w-way out of the forest?"</p><p>He brought up a valid point. </p><p>How were you supposed to find your way into town? </p><p>You didn't even know where you were in the first place, just that it was some old house in the middle of some pretty dense woods. He was also right about you having not gone out since being here. You hadn't seen a point to it seeing as you knew they all went out and killed - it was kind of obvious because of Jeff and all of... well that - and despite having clearly done so yourself in the past, you weren't too keen on the idea of doing so just for fun. </p><p>Or on an assignment, whatever that meant.</p><p>"Can't one of you guys take me into town?"</p><p>You looked at everyone, hoping one of them would agree at the very least.</p><p>"Can't." Jeff said, shaking his head.</p><p>And yeah, no arguing there that he definitely couldn't go out in the middle of the day. He'd be better off taking you while it was dark out, and by then most places were closed for the night. Both Brian and Tim shook their heads too when you glanced over to them, explaining they were waiting on yet another assignment from Slenderman.</p><p>That only left Toby. You looked at him and felt your hopes shrivel up on the spot. </p><p>The hole in his cheek. </p><p>He'd end up in the same situation as Jeff; only able to take you while it was dark out. Despite the shine in his hazel eyes and the big, dopey smile on his face, you couldn't ask him and expect a good result - though he'd more than likely give his all to do so.<br/>"I'm sorry Toby," you tapped your own cheek and watched as the hope died behind his eyes.</p><p>It was quiet for a few minutes, until Tim finally spoke up from behind his mask with a brilliant suggestion.</p><p>"Are you good at verbal directions?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Season 1 - Episode 5: A Walk in the Woods</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It took a bit of courage building, but you eventually managed to garner enough to leave the confines of the house you had ever so slowly become accustomed to being inside. Beyond the walls the Slenderman called his domain and the others called home, were thousands of tall trees of varying species. Pine needles and other types of leaves littered the ground and there were almost too many distinguishable paths for you to choose from. Birds flew around overhead, a deer and her two young could be seen in the distance between said trees, and squirrels among other small forest creatures scampered from tree-trunk to tree-trunk.</p><p>It was quite a shock to see it so lively in an area you were sure would have been dead silent due to Slender's presence being such an overpowering feeling. You stepped down off of the back porch steps, and leaned down to tug your boots on tighter. You could already feel the oncoming chill of winter even though it was still the middle of October. Wherever you must have been, it must have been north enough for winter to begin earlier than you were used to.</p><p>You were almost to the entrance of the woods when you suddenly felt like you were being watched. You stopped, dead silent as you froze in place; unable to move a muscle under the intense gaze you could feel on the back of your neck. It was thick, palpable enough you thought that Jeff, even with his incredible knife skills,  would have trouble slicing through it. </p><p>You tightened and untightened your fists around the sleeve of your jean jacket; anxiety and fear coursing through your veins and making the being inside prance around, before it too, went completely quiet with the rest of the forest around you. This only furthered your feeling of unease. In the short few weeks since the being inside you had made its presence known, you had grown used to it being there, telling you how it felt and alerting you to what dangers may be around that you yourself hadn’t or couldn’t notice on your own. To have it suddenly disappear was disconcerting to say the least.</p><p>You could hear your heartbeat slowly thrumming away in your ears, and your breathing stuttering deep in your lungs.</p><p><em>Ba-doom, Ba-doom, Ba-doom, Ba----doom</em>.</p><p>A twig snapped and your head shot up on instinct. </p><p>In the trees He stood, dressed oddly from what you had come to associate with Him from the few times you had witnessed Him around the house. A hat covered the top part of His head, and a lecherous grin spread high on the otherwise empty white face. </p><p>He was staring at you, watching you make your way out of the woods, out of His woods. </p><p>Jeff had made it clear to you that Slender didn't like people going in and out of his woods. You had thought you would be fine - asking Brian to pass the message on to him that you were going into town and would be back within a few hours.</p><p>Maybe Brian hadn't been able to. Maybe Slender had been traveling and felt you in the middle of going to town, and decided to stop you before you could even reach the forest entrance.</p><p>Suddenly he was directly in front of you, grin seeming endlessly wide as he looked down on you from his impressive height.</p><p>You lit up immediately in response to the sudden movement; skin becoming flames that danced high up into the sky, two glowing white orbs for eyes, and a mouth that looked like a child had cut a hole into a felt dolls face. </p><p>Everything about you at that moment was instinct. <em>Change suddenly and maybe you could throw the enemy off, hopefully even scaring them to where they'd run away and leave you alone</em>. </p><p>You stepped backwards slightly, trying to put some distance between you and him despite the added protection your body had provided.</p><p>"Another Phoenix then?" He asked, titling his head and grin widening. "You must work for my brother, since you're in his woods and not dead." </p><p>Your heart rate spiked.</p><p><em>Badoom Badoom Badoom</em>.</p><p>You watched as he came closer still, white tendrils coming forth from behind his back. Slendermans' were black. You knew it for a fact that his weren't white like these ones were. You doubted he could change the colors of them. So that only meant that the one before you was different from him. </p><p>
  <em>Maybe - no, they are more than likely the same species. He had said brother, after-all. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Were there more of them? If so, how many? </em>
</p><p>
  <em>How many were going to confront you and possibly kill you?</em>
</p><p>"Where are you heading to? I could help you get there."</p><p>He held a long, slender white hand out to you and you could only stare down at it. The being inside your mind told you not to trust Slenderman, yet it was disturbingly quiet around this one. </p><p>You tried prodding at it to get it to tell you something, but it wouldn't budge; refused to answer. </p><p>
  <em>Then… you could trust this one? He was okay? He wasn't going to harm you like it felt Slenderman was going to?</em>
</p><p>Slowly, you calmed down, and the fire coating your body like a protective shell retreated back beneath your skin. You didn't put your hand in his, but looked back up to his face instead. He almost seemed shocked to see you standing there now, hunched over and shaking like a leaf while he stood there above you.</p><p>"I- I was going into town to get some things," you said. "I just needed help getting to the exit of the woods."</p><p>"You look so much like her..."</p><p>~~~</p><p>He was walking in step beside you, leading you towards the exit. His hands were going in between dangling at his sides and sitting inside his pockets awkwardly, and you almost wanted to reach up and grab one just so he'd stop. But you refrained yourself from doing so because you didn't know Offender all that well, and despite not having the being inside you to tell you otherwise you still felt afraid and unsure of him. </p><p>You instead focused on the leaves and what little snow there was beneath your feet, and the fog that evaporated into the sky with every exhale; trying to ignore the swish his hands made against his trench coat.</p><p>"Has my brother told you what you are yet?" He asked suddenly.</p><p>You looked up to him, fixing your hat and fiddling with the ends of your scarf. </p><p>He continued when you didn’t respond immediately. “I only ask because you looked confused with what all I was sayin’ back at the entrance.”</p><p>You didn't know what you were because no one had told you. No one knew what you were either from what you could gather - that or they were purposely keeping said information from you. And you didn't expect them to know what you were when not even you did. That was asking the impossible in your opinion. </p><p>But the way Offender said it made it sound like Slender did, but was refusing to tell you. </p><p>You shake your head, accepting the hand he offers to help you over a large fallen tree that was slowly rotting away.</p><p>"You called me a Phoenix earlier," you say in response. "What is that? Er- what is it in regards to what you meant by calling me one. I know what a phoenix in mythology is, but you made it sound like a different thing entirely."</p><p>You drop your hand from his once you're over the tree. He huffs out a short laugh, shaking his head like he can't believe you even have to ask. But you do; you do have to ask because who in their right mind doesn't want to know about themselves. It would drive you to insanity not being able to know what you were.</p><p>"Slender would be better at describing it to you, but seeing as he hasn't yet I guess you'll have to settle for what all I know." He stopped, and you did as well. "A phoenix is a bird shaped demon who controls people from the day they're born ‘til the day they die. It sits inside them and lives off of their energy, and in exchange, they give their host the ability to transform. But it's all just so it can live in the host for as long as it can. It's pretty rare any sort of bond is formed between the two."</p><p>"That sounds pretty terrible."</p><p>"Depends how ya’ see it, Doll."</p><p>You gave him a look.</p><p>"From how I see it - what with <em>being </em>a Phoenix and all apparently, I'd say being one sucks."</p><p>You moved to walk ahead of him when a tendril shot out in front of you. A low chuckle sounded from Offender and you huffed in annoyance, crossing your arms and spinning on your heel to look back up at him. He gave you a grin, placing the white tendril on your shoulder and using it to brush up against your pinkened cheeks from the cold. </p><p>You shuddered at the feeling of it, shrugging it off. You didn’t like the feeling of him touching you, or the way he said ‘Doll’ to you. It left a foul taste in your mouth and made your stomach feel as if it was full of moths that were slowly eating away at your insides. </p><p>You wiped said cheek into the scarf that lay around your shoulders.</p><p>He looked annoyed briefly, but quickly moved on before you could say anything else.</p><p>"Look," he began. "I told you I don't know all too much about them except from what I've seen of it myself. My brother is better at explaining this type of stuff but he's clearly not been. Slendy's been avoiding you, hasn't he?"</p><p>Begrudgingly you nodded.</p><p>"See. This is the best you're gonna get for now. I'm sorry my opinion on it offended ya’ or whatever, but that's all it is. An opinion. Never said it was a fact sweetheart."</p><p>"Don't call me sweetheart."</p><p>And then you were both walking again. </p><p>He followed behind you and pointed in the right direction occasionally. He didn't talk again but you could hear his chuckling over something. You decided to ignore it however, and kept moving. The sooner you got out of the woods, the sooner you'd be rid of him and hopefully never have to see him again. But, one question kept bugging you. </p><p>He'd said you looked just like her. Who was this her that he was talking about? How did you look like her? How did he know her?</p><p>You looked up to him, slowing down enough for him to catch up beside you.</p><p>"You said I looked like someone... who?"</p><p>Once you were at the edge of the woods and spotted a road you turned to him fully. He looked uncomfortable at your question, looking everywhere but at you. Ignoring your question completely he said: "Just follow this road north for about a mile or two and you should hit the closest town. I'll see ya' around sweetheart."</p><p>Then he disappeared before you could even open your mouth.</p><p>You stood there for another moment or two before shaking your head and following the road like he had told you to.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Season 1 - Episode 6: Three Little Pigs and A Tiny Wolf</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sun was three quarters across the sky as you finally made it to the edge of the nearest town. It was small and close-knit looking, with old brick buildings and a hill-ridden landscape. You, yourself were atop one of said hills. One that was tall enough to just see over the tops of most of the buildings. From there you could see the neighborhoods that outlined all the stores and restaurants, two buildings you assumed to be school's out as far away from where you stood as could be.</p><p>You hurried your pace and kept your head low as you descended down the side of the hill carefully. Both Brian and Toby had suggested you do so, and you weren’t about to go against their request; though you didn’t understand why you would need to. You supposed it had something to do with living in a house with a bunch of people who weren't all that conventional, but shrugged it off as being anything but that.</p><p>You passed through a few neighborhoods, taking in the couple of small children you saw out and about. One group consisted of three; two girls, a thin blonde and a chubby brunette with hair down past the middle of her back, and a single boy. They all wore warm clothing except for the brunette girl who was leading the small group down the street you were on. In her hands she held a large stick and a thick bundle of black fabric that looked to be a hoodie.</p><p>They marched past you without care, the blonde skipping ahead before falling back besides the brunette, and the small boy almost running to keep up with the girls who were a few years older than him. </p><p>"I'm telling you I saw her!" You hear the brunette gloat with a smile as they walk ahead of you. </p><p>"Wait- you're serious Mary!?" The blonde gasped almost excitedly. You watched as she paused her skipping to jump in front of her friend, the small boy finally catching up to the two. "What'd she look like!!??"</p><p>"She was… " She pauses, obviously trying to think of the proper words to use. “She was nice… and kinda scary looking… like she got hurt really bad, kinda scary.”</p><p>This time it's the boy who speaks up. "...<em>really</em>?"</p><p>"Yeah, really JT. You think I would lie about seeing her like you do?" The brunette, Mary, remarks. </p><p>"I don't lie about stuff!"</p><p>"Says the one who lied about how cool his new game was…" the blonde smirks.</p><p>"Hey, I like games like Animal Crossing Sammy." </p><p>You can practically hear the frown Mary pulls at her friend.</p><p>"I know, but c'mon! JT said Animal Crossing was cooler than Gears of War. That's a blatant lie if I've ever heard one." </p><p>They begin walking once more, the two kids following after Mary, and you being careful to keep your distance behind them. You were curious as to who and what they were talking about. Obviously it had to be something interesting and creepy; <em>like she got hurt really bad</em>… Were they talking about an animal? A person who was hurt somewhere, or being abused?</p><p>“So- does that mean you went to the house all by yourself if you didn’t take me with you?” Sammy asks after a few minutes. “I didn’t think you went anywhere without me. Especially to a creepy place like that.”</p><p>“I, didn’t feel creeped out or anything when I did, so I went inside and went to leave and she was in the doorway to the room I was in. She didn’t say anything… I don’t think she can… but she felt nice and waved at me before she left.”</p><p>So it was somebody who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, talk?</p><p>You followed the three children as they led you along the edge of the woods you had come out of. They walked through people's backyards, not caring if they were trespassing or not. You knew it was weird of you to do so, but you just couldn’t shake the feeling these kids were going to lead you to something important. The mask you were originally in town to buy be damned… for now at least. You had found something much more meaningful than a piece of cheap plastic.</p><p>At some point, just before the sun looked as if it would finally succumb to gravity, Mary took a sharp turn down a thin dirt path into the trees. The two following behind her paused, and you jumped to hide behind a tool shed a few yards from them just as Mary turned to see what was holding them.</p><p>“Are you guys coming or not?” She called. “I don’t want to be out in the woods past dark just so you guys can see her!”</p><p>JT and Sammy looked to one another briefly. Then JT took off down the path and into the shadows of thickly clumped together foliage behind his brunette friend. Sammy gave a shout, before she too, took off running after her friends. You waited only a few short moments before sprinting to catch up to them. You could hear them shouting and laughing not too far ahead of you; branches snapping and dirt being pushed into a small creek below as you came around a bend in the path that ran alongside it.</p><p>Back within the cover of trees it was darker. Hardly any light made it past the broad leaves up above. A thick fog hung close to the trunks of trees and swirled away from your boots whenever you ran through it. Laughter echoed, making birds fly off and a chill run down your spine.</p><p>Knowing you were back within the confines of <em>His</em> woods did little to put you at ease.</p><p>A run-down looking house was beginning to come into view, and you slowed to little more than a crawl in order to stay hidden from the three children.</p><p>“Hey- uh… Mary?” JT paused. “Do ya’ think <em>he’ll</em> show up?”</p><p>Both girls looked away from peering in between the boards covering one of the many windows to look at the young boy. Mary broke off from the house and Sammy to wander back to her other friend, hands in her hoodie pocket. </p><p>“Who? <em>The ‘Tall-Man’?</em>" Mary gave a derisive snort. "JT, you know that’s just an urban legend, right? To scare off kids from going into the woods by themselves?” Mary bent to pick up a stray stick, examined it, then walked over to a tree and cracked it in half. “You got me and Sammy here with you. If some guy comes walking up to us, we got sharp ass sticks to protect ourselves with.”</p><p>She handed JT the large stick she had just broken, and proceeded to thump the butt-end of her own into the dirt besides her. A large grin was set on her rounded face; so big it caused her cheeks to close her eyes for the briefest of moments behind her glasses. </p><p>“Now c’mon, not even I wanna be out here too late. I got a curfew to maintain, dude."</p><p>They were there until the sun was so low you couldn't tell what was shadow and dark anymore. One of them shouted they were ready to leave, and you quickly stood from where you had sat leaned up against on of the trees. You didn't know why you wanted to see what a group of kids were so excited about. Maybe it was nostalgia for things you yourself never got the chance to do? Maybe Mary was just a really good story teller and had struck a chord somewhere in you... you didn't think you'd ever really find out the reason for your actions.</p><p>As soon as they had left, talking about how it had been a waste of time to go in the first place and Mary telling them she had really seen her, you made your way over to the entrance of the house. Inside was dark, with long stripes of orange-pink light going along the moldy, carpeted floor of the entryway. Spiderwebs and graffiti lined the walls up and down - from drawings of dicks to crudely-done Satanic symbols. Broken glass crunched beneath your feet as you finally stepped inside.</p><p>You felt a small chill travel up your spine as you entered the rundown house. The being within you, the Phoenix, stirred in your chest; both anxious and... <em>happy? </em>as you wandered further inside. </p><p>Every room was barren minus broken beer bottles, litter, and abandoned furniture covered in dust and various stains. Some of the houses walls had been bashed in, allowing the cooling air to filter in unobstructed. And various small animals who had made their way back inside quickly scampered away once they noticed you.</p><p>"What the <em>Hell</em> am I doing?" You scolded yourself in a hushed voice. "I was supposed to be back over an hour ago..."</p><p>
  <em>"Who are you?"</em>
</p><p>You whipped around to look behind you in a flash. It had been such a tiny, wispy voice. But you had heard it. You<em> <strong>swore </strong></em>you had.</p><p>"Who-" </p><p>Your eyes landed on a small figure in the corner of the room you were in. A silver-blue light faintly outlined the shape of a young girl with long knotted hair and a tattered old dress. Looking closer revealed that she couldn't have been much older than ten, twelve at the oldest, and that she was covered in old blood and bruises. She was dressed in a plain pink dress, and her toxic green eyes glowed up at you with empty curiosity.</p><p><em>"Who are you?"</em> She asked again, realizing her voice had the slightest echo to it.</p><p>"I-," you swallowed, then continued. "My name is (Y/N). Who are you?"</p><p>She suddenly wrapped her battered, tiny arms around herself. She tucked her head into the small crevice her shoulders created for her, a moldy looking teddy-bear held close to her chest.</p><p><em>"Momma said not to talk to strangers,"</em> She mumbled just loud enough for you to hear and then popped her head back up. <em>"But you seem nice. You aren't going to paint things on the walls or throw bottles like the others, are you?"</em></p><p>You shook your head at her and lowered yourself to sit on what was probably the only clean area in the whole building. </p><p>
  <em>"Well- my names Sally, and this is Charlie... he says you look nice."</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Season 1 - Episode 7: Masquerade</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was almost ten o'clock at night by the time you left Sally's old house. During the time you had spent with her you had learned that she had grown up there, and had been living there for who-knew-how-long. She had watched as her family moved out and others try to move in, only for them all to move out within the first few months. Most of her visitors consisted of teens and young adults set out to get high or drunk in the woods from the sounds of it. The only people she enjoyed talking to had been Mary and now you it seemed.</p><p>You entered the costume store once you found it after wandering the town's streets for what seemed like forever. It was decorated top to bottom in ‘scary’ items; giant, realistic looking spiders, old medical masks with convincing fake blood on them, all kinds of rags - anything you could think of to use to scare someone was housed within its four walls. </p><p>You got instant chills when you glanced at one of the masks on display on a mannequin, and shuffled down a random isle.You began looking up and down the shelves. You found yourself in the darker part of the small store, practically drenched in black, shredded fabrics. </p><p>You ran a hand over a large Grim Reaper costume, feeling how cool and soft the thin material was before moving on. At this point all the fake weapons seemed to glint in the dim lighting as real ones might. </p><p>You moved further down the aisles, stopping intermittently to judge the look and feel of various items. A glint of dirty looking metal caught your eye towards the end of one however, causing you to stop for a longer period of time. The mask was made of cold bronze upon touching it, bent and shaped to mimic feathers; an eye mask with black painting the ends of it to look like it was smoking. </p><p>It practically called for you to take it.</p><p>So you did.</p><p>You took both it, and the largest hoodie you could find, up to the cash register. The teen scanning your items glanced up at you upon reading what the jacket said, but you couldn't care less that it said <em>'Sounds Gay, I'm In'</em> in bright, rainbow lettering. It was funny, sarcastic, and quite honestly you just wanted an excuse to get another hoodie to sit around the house in. </p><p>They handed you back your things in a bag, and you exited the store with little difficulty after paying.</p><p>You walked around the small town for a few minutes afterwards, finding a bakery and buying a large thing of muffins and a tub of random icing to take back with you. The sun was down when you exited the small building, and it set you on edge just enough to where you walked at an almost jog to get back to the woods. Every twig snap and crunch of leaves and snow made you snap your head around to look behind you, only to find nothing.</p><p>You made it back to the house in under an hour, slamming the front door closed behind you.</p><p>Jane, who you had yet to have a full conversation with, glanced up at your panting self from where she and BEN sat on the couch together. You looked her way, and then briskly went back towards the kitchen to set the muffins and icing down on the counter. They followed you in but you didn't wait for them to say anything, instead rushing up the stairs to your room.</p><p>~~~</p><p>You woke up in bed the next morning, still dressed in your hoodie and jeans from the night before. You stretched, arching your back and letting out a groan when you flopped back onto the mattress below. The thick comforter was still warm from where you had laid on it and you rolled over onto your stomach, breathing in the clean scent of your freshly washed pillow. Looking out the window to see the sun poking its way through the trees you watched the outside scenery for a few minutes. Fog and frost covered your window and a fat bird sat on the sill, twisting its little head around to chirp at you through the glass.</p><p>Just looking outside made you suddenly feel cold, waking you up for the day.</p><p>You stood from your bed and went to your closet to pull out some clean clothes. Feeling especially cold today, you grabbed two large hoodies instead of one, and a pair of long, fuzzy socks to wear around the house.</p><p>A hot shower sounded amazing right about then.</p><p>You made your way to the bathroom just down the hall, washing yourself and getting ready for the day like you normally did. You then exited the small, bleach smelling room to head downstairs for the kitchen. Nobody else seemed to be up yet, seeing as it was so quiet, but looking into the living room told you otherwise. </p><p>On the couch sat both Jeff and Jack.</p><p>Jeff was watching whatever was on TV, legs spread out to touch Jack's knee and an arm around him while the cannibal read from a heavy looking book. You watched them for a moment, but shrugged it off as nothing really unusual. Shuffling into the kitchen, you found the muffins where you had left them the night before; a fourth of them were gone, and the lid to the icing was left open beside it.</p><p>
  <em>Glad to see both Jane and Ben enjoyed a few without you.</em>
</p><p>You grabbed a muffin and sat down at the counter, making a pretzel out of your arms and putting your head snugly into the pocket it made while you leisurely ate. You breathed in the scent of your new jacket; the smell of burnt out candles and storage.</p><p>You finished your light breakfast, then headed back into the living room where you flopped down onto the cushions and into Jeff's unoccupied side. You felt him shift in order to look down at you. He chuckled, moving his arm to be around you. You scooted closer into his side and grabbed a handful of his hoodie. Judging by the smell of it, it was fresh out of the wash. </p><p>Good. You didn't want dried blood all over your face right after getting out of the shower. Maybe you should look and think things through before doing stuff to avoid that in the future.</p><p>"Morning," you mumbled into his shoulder.</p><p>"Morning to you too, Runt."</p><p>"Do we have to do any training today?" You shifted to give him your best puppy dog eyes. "It looks freezing out there, and there's only so much a couple of jackets can do Jeff."</p><p>Jeff shrugged and turned to Jack, nudging him with his knee. </p><p>Jack looked up quickly, then back down to his book, hissing a quiet: “Don't ask me what your schedule is supposed to be. You should be responsible enough by now to know.” </p><p>Jeff shrugged once again and settled back in to continue watching whatever was on TV, and you did so too. You would take their combined answers as a big no for today. You relaxed further into him, breathing even and mind quiet. The day was shaping up to be a relaxing one, the kind of day you could get used to. Odd how being in a house full of killers helped to put your mind at ease - that is until one of them comes bursting into the room to tell you they need you.</p><p>"(Y/N)! Slender asked me t-to come g-get you!" Toby said in a rush as he stormed down the steps, jolting you. </p><p>You sat up from Jeff's lap and the brunet gave a weird look at the two of you when he came around the corner, then looked up to Jack. </p><p>You furrowed your brow at that. Everyone was giving you weird looks as of late. What was up with that? Did you need a haircut or something? It had been a while since you last went to have it trimmed. Maybe you should go back into town and ask for one, or ask Jeff how everyone around the house kept their hair in check.</p><p>"He s-said he was g-gonna g-give you your first as-assi-assignment or something. I th-think you get to come with me and H-Hoodie tonight!"</p><p>You glanced up at him, then back over to Jeff. </p><p>"Uh- cool? What am I supposed to be doing then?"  </p><p>"You should probably go get dressed for one thing, Runt." Jeff snorted.</p><p>Looking down you could indeed say you might want to change into some actual clothes instead of a couple of hoodies and a pair of sweats and- did you really put on fuzzy socks with little cats on them this morning? </p><p>Standing up you made your way briskly back up to your room to change. You traded the sweats for some not torn-up skinny jeans, which were a lot harder to find than you had first thought it would be. And deciding it would probably be best to go with an entirely black outfit you wouldn't mind getting dirty  (because face the facts, these people killed others for a living), an all black hoodie as well. </p><p>Of course there was a high chance of getting dirty.</p><p>You went back down to them a few minutes later, mask and a set of gloves tucked snugly into your front pocket. They looked up at you once you reentered. Jeff gave you a grin, doing a single finger-gun and making you flush in blatant embarrassment.</p><p>"N-nice look (Y/N)," Toby stuttered out. "You really l-look creep-pyy in all black like th-that."</p><p>"Oh, uh- thank you…?" </p><p>You had no idea if that was supposed to be a compliment or not.</p><p>A small part of you hoped it was.</p><p>"You got a mask though, right Runt?"</p><p>Jeff was looking at you like he did when he was being particularly quiet during training. His blue eyes were cold and calculating, a shine over them as he gazed directly into your own (e/c) orbs. Shadows covered part of his face and there was this energy around him; Something dark and distinctly painful looking. You couldn't decide if you wanted to cower away back up into your room for the rest of the day, or go over and offer some kind of anxious comfort to him.</p><p>"Of course. That was the whole reason I went out last night." You said. "Muffins were just an afterthought."</p><p>He raised his only brow, prompting you to take out your mask and hesitate before putting it on. You looked up, watching as his shoulders relaxed visibly and he turned back to watching the TV with a short nod. </p><p>It was at that point that Brian and Tim stepped into the room from the stairwell. You turned to them and the two men stopped in their tracks upon seeing you. They stared as you flushed even further and looked to the ground.</p><p>You weren't used to all the attention of someone being on you. Far from it. Even more so when it was the good kind of  attention. You were used to people mocking you, or calling you ‘mental’ and shoving you against lockers; being chased home at the end of the day because you were a nervous wreck unlike everyone else in your town was also a normal occurrence.</p><p>Brian almost sounded like he choked slightly as he said: "Your mask looks great."</p><p>"Thank you."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Season 1 - Episode 8: Spying is Rude</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was quiet, your breathing and heartbeat in your ears drowned out by the sound of insects and forest life that came out in the night. Stars hung high in the sky above the trees and there was no moon out to light your way through all of them. You shivered as a cold wind blew through from behind, tucking your face as far as you could into the depths of your combined jackets - four of them to be exact.</p><p>Ever since that day, discovering the body and transforming into that beast inside of you, you could never be warm enough. Everyday was cold, freezing even, prompting warmer and warmer clothing choices as winter progressed on. </p><p>The reason you knew something wasn't one hundred percent alright with your sudden, constantly frozen state? Everyone else in the house was perfectly okay with going outside in thin sweaters, or even just a long-sleeved shirt. All while you needed at least two hoodies to even begin warming up inside on the couch. </p><p>Brian slowed down from his lead up ahead of you and Toby, waiting for you so he could put an arm on your shoulders.</p><p>"You need to go see Slender about this. It's only fifty degrees out tonight and you're shivering like we're in the Arctic Tundra." He said plain and simple, not even looking at you.</p><p>You smiled despite knowing he wouldn't see it, teeth chattering and whole body shaking. "Thanks for the advice; but I'd rather freeze for a few hours than have another panic attack being in the same room as him."</p><p>"I'd rather you not freeze in ‘sweater weather’. Jeff would murder me in my sleep if I let you and you got sick." Taking off his second jacket, Brian handed it over to you and draped it across your shoulders. You could feel its heat even from underneath the four you already had on, making you pull it as tightly as possible against you. "You have to meet with him again soon anyways. Might as well discuss your reaction to cold weather while figuring out how to get your memory back."</p><p>You chose not to respond to that. Already you could feel the fear and absolute dread forming at the pit of your stomach.</p><p>"We should only be out here for another hour or two depending on how the job goes tonight. We're really only supposed to do some recon." He continued.</p><p>Toby came rushing up beside you then. In his hands were two hatchets that glinted the light of the house from up ahead back at you. He used the newer looking one to get Brian's attention, pointing at said house. Brian let go of you and went up further ahead, once more resuming his position as the head of the team next to Tim. The two of them stuck close to the trees while you tried to follow closely behind them.</p><p>You came up besides Toby who was ducked behind a tree of his own, and took a fistful of his jacket into your hand.</p><p>"What is Slender having us come all the way out here for some random cabin for?"</p><p>Turning back around to glance at you, Toby answered your question in a whisper. </p><p>"The guy inside is coming too close to Slender's inner territory. He doesn't mind the kid being out here because it's supposed to be far enough away, but he keeps going on walks and he's getting pretty far into where we live. Slender thinks he could be a threat." The fact he didn’t stutter and how low his voice had become - almost a growl through clenched teeth, shocked you, though you didn’t let it show for long. </p><p>"And where do I come in exactly?" You asked.</p><p>"Jeff suggested you come to Slender, said you were getting better in your training. And we're gonna need you to burn the cabin in case there's anything that can be used against us inside if something happens and we need to kill the kid tonight."</p><p>You gave a small hum.</p><p>"Is that what the duffel bags are for? Supplies in case he has to be killed? Are we just supposed to raid this kids house like it's nothing?"</p><p>Toby didn't respond.</p><p>Looking up into the lit up window you could see who Toby was talking about. The kid was young looking, probably no older than you, with an undercut and dyed blue hair held in a long ponytail at the base of his head. He had a round face and big eyes behind his glasses that looked as if he hadn't ever seen anything bad in all his life. He was at a sink, doing his dishes by hand and smiling as if nothing was wrong; as if Toby, Tim, and Brian weren't about to possibly burst in there to kill him, or have his home raided before being set on fire. </p><p>It didn't feel right to you at all.</p><p>What had he even seen, if anything? Why did he have to die? This kid looked so innocent as he went about his business inside his own home. And you were about to go in there and ruin everything. </p><p>Before you could even say anything to either of them, Brian was ducking off closer to the house and Toby wrenched himself from your grip. You could only hide behind that tree in horror as you listened to them rustle dead leaves and snow on the ground as they moved closer to the home.</p><p>You closed your eyes and slid down the bark until you were sitting up against the tree with your knees up to your chest. You didn’t want to be there anymore. Not if they were going to have to kill him eventually. The mere thought of a kid like that - the kind that did dishes by hand with a smile on his face as if he thought it was nothing, being killed just because he might have possibly seen something that led him to discovering Slenderman?</p><p>There was a scream, and then a thud from inside. Somebody rushed past you and both of them were shouting your name to do something. But you couldn't. He was only a kid. Sixteen at most and still holding onto some kind of hope that he could change the world when he got older. </p><p>A blur of blue and pale skin shot past you through the snow as if there was nothing on the ground at all.</p><p>Seconds passed before Toby stopped beside you and threw one of his hatchets through the trees, and the sound of something hitting the forest floor caused all the birds to fly off into the night squawking. </p><p>You felt the tears roll down your cheeks and stuffed your face into your arms, breathe rattling hard inside your chest. A sob broke through your clenched jaw. Pain lanced up and down your body until you felt nothing but numb. They'd just killed him like it was <em>nothing</em> to snuff out a light.</p><p>"Why didn't you go after him (Y/N)? You could have got him easily!"</p><p>You didn't have to look up to know Toby was the one yelling at you while he went to go get his hatchet back from the kids body. A set of feet stopped in front of you, paused, and a gloved hand was set gently on your shoulder. </p><p>You jolted at the contact and the hand fell away.</p><p>You didn't want to talk, didn't want to be touched or yelled at. Some kid who was the definition of innocent had just been murdered in front of you, and your mind wasn't willing to process another body to its list of mentally scarring things you'd seen in your lifetime. So instead you dug your fingers into your hair, gripping it to try and calm yourself down before you had another panic attack.</p><p>"Jesus Christ," Tim groaned upon his return, "is he seriously about to have a fucking panic attack over that shit?"</p><p>"HE WAS A KID!" </p><p>Your sudden screech of anger startled the two of them and yourself. Silent as they watched you shove your face back into your hands, chest cavity shaking with each inhale and exhale. You didn't even know his name yet still you felt the sadness roll through you like a wave. The anger fizzled out of you slowly and neither one of them moved closer to you.</p><p>"He was just a kid..." your voice came out as a croak from behind your bunched up scarf and fists. "He still had hope and you could see it in his eyes. How could either of you be so- so okay with putting out that kind of fire?"</p><p>"Fear," Toby offered finally and you brought your face up to look at him, eyes and cheeks puffy from crying. "To put it simply we fear our boss (Y/N). If we don't do what he says, when he says, and somehow mess up-"</p><p>"You’d wish you were dead if it came to that scenario." Brian finished for him.</p><p>Toby turned away from the two of you. His head was low and his arms were crossed. You could still see blood slowly dripping down to the snow by his feet and inhaled sharply at it. You looked down at your own feet. In some way you could understand the fear, you could definitely understand the terror that was Slenderman. But to have to kill someone who you didn't even know? Someone so young- much younger than you yourself were?</p><p>How were you going to be able to do it when it was your turn?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Season 1 - Episode 9: Mistakes Get Made, Learn From Them</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Toby and Brian left you to wander around the cabin by yourself while they dug around for food and other supplies to take back. Pictures were hung up on the wall; a mom and dad, two adult boys and a young daughter. They were all smiling in each photo, not knowing that one day they'd come back to a home that wasn't there anymore, and a child who was slowly rotting not twenty meters from where you stood now in the hallway. </p><p>It made your gut want to roll and you sniffed, turning back to looking in at all the rooms.</p><p>There were four in total. The master bedroom where everything was metal and white and flowy looking. A room that had been converted into an office overflowing with books and two desks on opposite sides of the room. The second bedroom was storage, filled with a few boxes and old looking furniture. Based upon the pictures you'd seen you assumed the two older looking sons had already moved out. That left the daughter. </p><p>If the two boys had moved out, and the girl wasn't home, then who had Toby killed just a few minutes ago? Slender had said he lived here and you weren't going to doubt him concerning that fact. So was the kid just a family friend? A cousin maybe? </p><p>But upon looking into the last bedroom at the end of the hall it all made sense. </p><p>The walls were covered in posters, drawings, Polaroids and paintings. The bed was a mess of pillows and blankets left unmade with a flag hanging over it, and fairy lights strung up around it; a flag you recognized from the Pride event you had snuck out of school to go to when you were sixteen. </p><p>The daughter in the pictures wasn't a girl at all. </p><p>It was a boy. </p><p>And knowing the kind of pain that kid must have gone through all his life - it just made the whole scenario even sadder. Being born into the wrong body; more than likely being bullied and forced to use the wrong restroom at school and in public facilities. </p><p>You weren't trans yourself, but you had heard the stories, you had read the posts on Tumblr from people who dealt with it first hand. The amount of suffering they had to deal with on a near daily basis - you couldn’t imagine going through that kind of thing yourself.</p><p>You wandered over to the bookshelf by the window. It was stuffed neatly with old movies and DvD's. A few large binders that were full of encased drawings and all kinds of different books; Manga, Star Wars, comics, Twilight. He must have an obsession with vampires and the supernatural if he has this many books about it.</p><p>Next was the closet. </p><p>Absolutely full of stuffed animals and blankets with only shirts and jackets hanging up on hooks on the wall next to a medium sized display case. Inside the case were writing awards and science fair and history fair certificates. </p><p>Why didn't he show them off? Why hide it all in a closet where nobody could see all his accomplishments? The stuffed animals you could understand, but awards? Come on! He might have not liked to brag, but surely he could show off just a little in his own home at the very least.</p><p>You closed the door somberly and turned around to face the bed, freezing when you noticed the cat curled up on one of the pillows. It was small, with mostly white fur and patches of orange on its back and top of the head. Its golden eyes were staring up at you, pupils wide and impossibly adorable. Meowing, it stood, fluffy orange tail swishing back and forth as it started to purr loudly.</p><p>A bell jingled from around its neck and you looked for a name on the collar. </p><p>They seriously named their cat Cashew of all things? </p><p>You picked the cat up, listening as it began to purr even louder and rub its face against the side of your cheek. Pet hair be damned, you were going to hold this cat. Everything in this cabin was just making you guiltier and guiltier by the minute. He had a family, he had struggles, and an adorable, loving cat who probably slept on the kids face at night. </p><p>Why hadn't you stopped Toby? </p><p>Walking back over to the bookshelf you grabbed one of the binders to flip through as you went and sat on the bed. On almost every page was a Polaroid picture stapled to the corner of an exact replica. Nature scenes, portraits, fantasy creatures. All of them were drawn with detail and different kinds of mediums. Colors and differing textures marked up the entirety of each individual page and it was beautiful.</p><p>"Did you find anything interesting?"</p><p>You looked up to see Brian standing against the doorway, arms crossed and bag slung against his back. </p><p>Cashew stood up from your lap, meowing and tail wagging against your nose and lower face. </p><p>"I found Cashew here on the bed, some awards, and art the kid did." You moved the tail from your face. "He was transgender, female to male. He's got the flag hanging over his bed and the photos in the hallway to prove it."</p><p>Brain looked down to the ground. He was quiet for a moment and you went back to looking through the art binder. You heard him walk over to you until his boots were just barely in your line of sight.</p><p>"Toby found a dog. Tag says her name is Sedona."</p><p>"What do we do with them? We can't just leave them here, not if I'm supposed to burn all the evidence. Which by the way, I haven't found any leading me to believe he knew anything about Slender, or his territory. You all killed him for nothing. Slender was wrong."</p><p>"Slender is never wrong about anything. Don't act as if you've known him your whole life when in retrospect you've maybe known him for a solid two hours at best. Tim, Toby, and I have been working for him for years (Y/N)."</p><p>You closed your eyes and shut the binder. Anger flashed through your system so fast it was like fire catching in a field of dried, decaying grass. You looked up to him from where you sat, Cashew jumping off your lap just as small sparks began to form in your clenched fists. You stood quickly, stepped up to him until you were just underneath his chin, and poked a finger into his chest as you let out a string of words as a hiss between your teeth.</p><p>"I may not have known him for all that long but look at the facts," you said incredulously, waving your free arm about in a grand gesture. "There's nothing here that justifies killing that boy!"</p><p>"You don't know that. This is your first mission! You missed something!"</p><p>"I've spent the past hour looking through all the rooms. Nothing came up, Brian!" </p><p>At this point you were both shouting at each other, trying to make your point be heard and drown out the other with your volume. He let out a groan, pacing deeper into the room to walk from the window to the opposing wall and back. He looked frustrated and angry with you. And you didn't doubt he was. You were frustrated and angry with him, Tim, and Toby too. </p><p>None of you were communicating very well and you all believed different things; you thought this kill was pointless and a mistake, Brian thought there was no other way and that Slender was always right, and Tim thought you had messed everything up for them. Toby- Toby had been the one to end the kid's life... </p><p>You turned away from his pacing. It was distracting and beginning to irritate you to no ends. The sound of his shuffling footsteps on the carpet was grating and constant. Constant, continuous noises had always bothered you and made you anxious. There was no reason for it and no event that had sparked your dislike for such things but it was there nonetheless.</p><p>"Look," he sighed, finally twisting in his boots to face you, "whether or not Slender was right or wrong about the kid we still had to do it. He still would have punished us if we hadn't, and we can't go back now that he's dead."</p><p>"But he was wrong!" You shout. “He<strong><em> IS</em></strong> wrong!”</p><p>"It doesn't matter now (Y/N)! What's done is done and there’s no fixing it alright!? You're still supposed to set this place on fire before we can go back, otherwise he'll kill us for not doing a simple job correctly! I don't know about you, but I'd rather stay in one piece and wake up tomorrow."</p><p>"I can't. This is still a home even without the kid."</p><p>"You have to (Y/N)." He took you by your shoulders. "We don't have a choice in the matter."</p><p>"I understand that but can't we-"</p><p>"There's nothing to do." Letting out a sigh and stepping back towards the door he tossed you an empty duffel bag. "Look, grab whatever you want. I don't care. But be out of the house in fifteen minutes and be ready to burn it. Because you're going to whether you agree with it or not."</p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Season 1 - Episode 10: A Walk in the Woods Part II</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You didn't look back as you trekked back to the house, the orange glow of fire behind you glowing brighter and brighter with each passing step. Instead you focused solely on hugging Cashew tighter to you. Her tail flicked every now and then as she watched her old home be burned down to the ground, laid in your arms. Toby was far ahead of you with the dog, Sedona, at his heels like the loyal dog she no doubt was.</p>
<p>You didn't speak at all while you walked. The wounds of the night were still too fresh to do so. So you walked, one in front of the other at varying distances so that you wouldn't have to. It was okay like this though. You didn't think you would be able to talk to anyone of them without breaking down into yelling at them even if it was an option. It was only now after having watched Toby kill without a care, and Tim and Brian get angry at you that you fully understood just who the kinds of people you were living with were.</p>
<p>They weren't humans, they were monsters; things that went bump in the night and killed people because a faceless being told them to without question - without doubting its reasoning for a split second. These men, walking in front of you, were cold blooded and uncaring. They felt nothing. They couldn't if they didn't understand why you could not and would not kill the boy when he had run past.</p>
<p>"I'm taking a shower..." you mumbled, head down as you went upstairs upon making it back to the house.</p>
<p>The next day you woke up to not only a cat in your face, but a giant dog across the back of your thighs. You got up from the bed slowly to keep from disturbing the two animals, and crept downstairs for a light breakfast. You could still feel the anger and sadness from last night slinking around in the bottom of your gut. But you ignored the feeling in favor of making yourself a bowl of cereal and sitting next to Jeff at the counter.</p>
<p>"Bad news," he began, taking a slow bite of his own cereal. "Slender talked to me last night after Brian and Tim reported to him. I have to double up on your training until he sees it fit to send you out again for a mission."</p>
<p>"You're kidding me."</p>
<p>"Wish I was Runt. I don't even want to go outside in that. It snowed almost six inches last night after everyone went to bed, and it's in the twenties right now and only gonna get lower as the day goes on."</p>
<p>Confusion and agitation rolled through you.</p>
<p>"Why!?" You cried out, annoyed.</p>
<p>"He wouldn't tell me. Just told me to do it and stop asking questions." Shrugging he turned the volume on the adjacent TV up a notch louder.</p>
<p>The voice of the newscaster finally reached your ears and your entire heart sank down into your stomach. 'Local Trans-gendered high school student Maxine (Maxwell) Hope reported missing . . . foul play suspected after blood was found outside family home . . .' scrolled across the bottom of the screen. At the sight of the word ‘trans-gendered’ all you could feel was a twist in your gut. The term didn't even sound human, like they were purposefully disgracing him just for being who he was as they went back and forth between showing a picture from what must have been him in middle school, to one that only looked a few months old on the screen.</p>
<p>You quickly grabbed the remote from Jeff’s hand, turning the volume up even further in disbelief.</p>
<p>"Local sixteen year old student Maxine Hope was reported missing to police last night after the family returned to their home on fire." The blonde woman read. "Firefighters and police were called to report the incident, and due to circumstances her parents have reported her - and the family pets - missing as of yesterday evening. Police found blood about twenty meters from the site of the fire, but no body was found. Search and Rescue teams are due to begin their search later today. In sports news-"</p>
<p>You let the remote drop from your hand and onto the counter with a resounding smat! sound after turning it off suddenly. </p>
<p>How dare they. </p>
<p>How dare they disrespect another human being by not only calling him by his dead name, but by only talking about the matter for less than a minute! They didn't even seem to care! They didn't care that the parents were hurting, that his friends were, that you were.</p>
<p>They just glossed over him like he was at the bottom of their ‘to-do’ list. </p>
<p>It was disgusting, inhumane and downright wrong in the absolute worst sense of the word. </p>
<p>Sparks flew from your clenched fists as you squeezed them until cauterized crescents were left in your palm. </p>
<p>Jeff watched you, face unreadable while you gripped at your messy hair. Your cheeks were red and you could feel the tears turning into steam as they rolled down. You were just so frustrated and confused and angry. Nobody understood what was so fucked up about this situation. Nobody knew what happened. You didn't even know what had happened. </p>
<p>You were a hundred percent sure his body hadn't been more than a few meters out into the woods from his house, and that he was dead. Toby had made sure of it before he left it there. But now they were saying the only thing found was some blood? What the actual fuck!?</p>
<p>"They should have found the body. Why didn't they find the fucking body?"</p>
<p>"What are you talking about?"</p>
<p>You whirled around on him in a flash. "The body Jeff! That's the kid Toby killed! I watched him do it! The police should have found the kids body a few feet away from the cabin! Why the hell didn't they!?"</p>
<p>"Do you think Hoodie buried him maybe?"</p>
<p>"No!" Your voice had devolved into a sort of high whine, your eyebrows up towards your hairline and a feeling of anxiety creeping up your throat. "There wasn't a reason to or any time for him even if he had wanted to. I was with him practically the entire time. The only time I was by myself was for fifteen minutes. That wouldn't have been nearly enough time for anyone to dig a grave and cover it back up to hide any evidence."</p>
<p>"Maybe Slender took it. He's been known to do that sometimes." He suggested nonchalantly, poking his spoon in your direction as you began to pace.</p>
<p>"From what Brian said last night, Slender wanted nothing to do with this besides have us kill the kid and get rid of any evidence."</p>
<p>You chewed on your nails. The anxiety in your gut only intensified when Brian came in for breakfast and Jeff asked him about it. Brian was confused at first until Jeff explained what was heard on the TV nearly an hour ago now. Brian didn't have any answers. He'd talked with Slender last night and the faceless man hadn't even been in the state while you had been out until just a few moments before you all walked in the door.</p>
<p>So what happened to the body then?</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>Pine and snow entered your senses as you took a step off the back porch with Sedona at you feet. The house had become stuffy and claustrophobic in the last three days since the kid had been killed before your very eyes. Too many people were around to see how upset it had made you, and too many of them asked how you were doing. So you decided very early in the morning on the fourth day that a walk in the woods was in order.</p>
<p>A very long walk in the woods; one that would help keep you out of the house for a majority of the day at least.</p>
<p>You hiked the small bag full of food and bottled water higher up onto your shoulder and set out on a random path through the trees. Once again you were shocked at how full of life the woods were this close to a house full of killers and beings such as Slenderman. Surely the presence a creature like Slenderman would be enough deterrent to keep forest life away for miles - and yet they pranced around the woods as if they were the only creatures around.</p>
<p>A couple of rabbits hopped across your path, and various birds were twittering around up in the canopies. The sounds nature provided were wonderful for your addled mind. But still confused you nonetheless.</p>
<p>Sedona pranced around beside and in front of you, stopping to sniff at the ground or bounding up ahead to pounce in the snow drifts. She didn't stray too far away from you whenever she would wander off on her own though. Within minutes of her disappearing she would reappear by your side, tail wagging and tongue lolling out.</p>
<p>It just made you feel worse to realize she probably didn't understand she'd never see her kid again...</p>
<p>Hours passed and the trees were beginning to thin out. By then the sun had risen to be just above the horizon line. Orange and pink light glistened off the snow on the ground back up to your eyes, and a field became visible a few meters ahead of you. It was pristine, smooth, with a few purple hued flowers poking stubbornly out from underneath the thick blanket of white.</p>
<p>Sedona perked up as soon as she noticed the clearing, her curled tail wagging excitedly as the pure white husky bounded off ahead of you once again. You felt a small smile begin curling your lips, only for that heavy black mass known as guilt to hiss at you from deep where it resided. If you thought the news brushing over Maxwell's death had been horrible and inhumane, then what were you doing having a nice day out with his fucking dog like she was yours?</p>
<p>The urge to throw a bit of snow for her instantly fizzled out of your mind.</p>
<p>Your conscious was right.</p>
<p>What were you doing acting as if these animals were yours?</p>
<p>You hadn't raised or adopted them, taken them to the vet when they were sick, or loved them for years like Maxwell had. You had no right to act like this with them. </p>
<p>Deep down, you knew- you knew... that you were acting just like them. Just like Tim who had yelled at you for sitting there on your ass; like Brian who'd said it didn't matter now that it was done and over with. Just like Toby who'd killed Maxwell.</p>
<p>The weight of your thoughts were too much for your legs to handle and you fell back onto your ass in the snow behind you at the edge of the field. Your eyes unfocused, stuck staring at the ground between your thighs. Going on this walk had been a terrible idea. You didn't feel any better being away from them because you were them. </p>
<p>Those visions the night you had changed fully into the Phoenix hadn't just been visions; they'd been memories. You had killed countless people before and enjoyed it. So what made you so different from them that you considered the house full of killers to be 'other'?</p>
<p>"Y'know, I'm starting ta notice a real pattern here, Sweetheart."</p>
<p>You looked up at the voice and startled.</p>
<p>It was the man from before, the night you'd gone to get a mask and instead met Sally. The man who looked like Slenderman but not, and the one who made the Phoenix go utterly silent in you. Goosebumps prickled under your jacket at the sight of that lecherous grin, though you didn't understand why.</p>
<p>"I thought I told you not to call me Sweetheart..." You said.</p>
<p>"And I thought I told you these woods were dangerous. What are you, Little Red Riding Hood?"</p>
<p>"You never said that."</p>
<p>He looked surprised, or at least as surprised as a man with nothing more than a mouth for a face could.</p>
<p>"I didn't?" He paused as if thinking before he grinned once more down at you. "Well either way I'm tellin' ya now. So scram."</p>
<p>You narrow your eyes up at the tall being in a trench coat and fedora.</p>
<p>You're angry, and full of a guilt you can barely comprehend thrumming through you at the max of its ability to coax you into laying there on the ground until the earth swallows you whole. You're also afraid; deathly so, of this man and what he could do to you if he decided he didn't like what you were saying or doing. Him and Slender were the same species, or at least looked to be so. Who's to say he wouldn't be able to kill you like Tim, Brian and Toby were afraid of Slender doing?</p>
<p>But you weren't going to let him push you or walk all over you like the others did.</p>
<p>"Maybe I like it to be dangerous," You say, though you know you're lying to both him and yourself, from your spot on the ground. "Maybe it makes life more interesting for me."</p>
<p>He seems to chuckle a bit at this - like he doesn't believe you for a second. The noise and action sends a streak of defiance up your spine, annoyance and anger mixing to form a dangerous combination that sparks a boldness in you you feel you'll come to regret later down the line. You glare up at where his eyes should be, your fists clenched at your sides tightly and Sedona now back by your side as you move to stand. You feel her brush her body right up against your thigh and her tail curling until its stuck in between your legs.</p>
<p>The motion reminds you heavily of when you tried to hide behind your parents when you were younger.</p>
<p>Suddenly he's bent down, his face mere centimeters from your own. It causes you to stumble backwards and your heart to jump into your throat. His face sports a malicious grin, one you wish would go away and not come back. You notice in that moment that he smells not of woods like Slenderman, but of smoke and cigarettes. You hate the smell of him - you hate it with all your being, and your face must show your disgust because he huffs a small laugh at your expense.</p>
<p>The noise makes you force an unimpressed look on your face, and to return back to standing your ground in defiance.</p>
<p>You don't know why you feel so brave around this creature and not when around Slender, but you aren't going to question it, at least not for now.</p>
<p>"Maybe," he says mockingly, "you should be a little more afraid of danger, Sweetheart."</p>
<p>"I asked you a question last time we met," you begin with an almost even tone, ignoring his statement. "You said I looked like some girl before, and you disappeared before you answered me. I want to know who."</p>
<p>This time he's the one to back away in shock. You take the step forward until you're right up there with him like he had been with you less than a second ago. Sedona gives a frightened whine, refusing to move any closer to him.</p>
<p>"Her name was Bella. That's all I'm sayin'."</p>
<p>And then just like before, he's suddenly gone.</p>
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